The fire burned through the night.Cain watched it from the ridge. The Ural facility was gone. Reduced to rubble. The amplifier was destroyed. Vance was dead.He should have felt relief.Instead, he felt nothing."Eyes up."Kessler's voice cut through his thoughts. She stood beside him, her face illuminated by the distant flames."We need to move," she said. "The Frequency Division knows what happened here. They'll be sending reinforcements."Cain turned away from the fire. The rest of the team was packing up. Lena was helping Novak secure the equipment. Marcus was speaking with Langley. Reyes was scanning the horizon."Where do we go?" Cain asked."The nearest extraction point. Twenty kilometers east. We have transport waiting."Twenty kilometers. Through the frozen tundra. At night."We won't make it before dawn," Cain said."We don't have to. We just have to be faster than them."Kessler walked away. Cain followed.The team moved out. Silent. Efficient. They'd done this before. Man

The plane hit turbulence two hours in.Cain gripped the armrests. The fuselage shook. The pilot swore. Outside, the sky was white. Featureless. The Arctic stretched below like a frozen ocean."Novaya Zemlya ahead," the pilot shouted. "Ten minutes."Cain looked at his team. Kessler was checking her weapon. Reyes was sharpening a knife. Langley sat still. Novak studied her tablet. Lena was pale but determined. Marcus stared out the window."Final approach," the pilot said. "I can't land close. Too many eyes. I'll drop you five kilometers out.""Understood."The plane descended. The ground rose to meet them. Snow. Ice. Rock. Nothing else.The plane touched down on a frozen lake. The ice groaned but held.Cain was first out. The cold was instant. Brutal. The wind cut through his clothes.The facility appeared in the distance. A dark shape against the white. Concrete. Steel. Forbidding."Novaya Zemlya," Marcus said. "The old Soviet research station. Decommissioned in 1993. Never officially

The plane landed on a dirt strip in the middle of nowhere.Cain stepped out. The air was cold but not freezing. They'd left the Arctic behind. This was somewhere else. Somewhere green."Where are we?" he asked.Kessler walked past him. "Finland. Remote. No one comes here.""How do you know about this place?""I built it. Years ago. Before everything went wrong."She led them to a small cabin. Wooden. Rustic. Hidden in a forest.Inside, it was anything but rustic. Screens. Consoles. Weapons. A command center disguised as a hunting lodge."Impressive," Marcus said."I don't do anything halfway."The team settled in. Lena found a corner and collapsed. Exhaustion had caught up with her. Reyes and Langley secured the perimeter. Novak connected her equipment to the mainframe.Cain stood in the center of the room. Staring at a blank screen.Kessler approached."You need to rest.""I need to think.""Same thing."He looked at her. Her face was hard. But her eyes were soft."What do we do now?

The headlights appeared three hours into the drive.Cain saw them first. Two dots in the rearview mirror. Steady. Patient. Closing distance."We have company," he said.Kessler checked her mirror. "How long?""Since Berlin. Maybe longer.""Frequency Division?""Or someone else."Marcus shifted in his seat. "Volkov's people. He knows we're coming.""How would he know?""Because he always knows. He's been three steps ahead his whole life."Cain gripped the wheel. The road stretched ahead. Dark. Empty. Farmland on both sides."We need to lose them," he said."Not yet." Kessler pulled out a map. "There's a junction ahead. Ten kilometers. We take the exit. They follow. We ambush.""Ambush who? We don't know how many.""We'll find out."They drove. The headlights grew closer. Cain watched them. His mind calculated. Speed. Distance. Time.The junction appeared. He turned. The headlights followed."Now," Kessler said.Cain slammed the brakes. The SUV skidded. Stopped sideways. Blocking the ro

The screens exploded with light.Cain stared at the displays. Red dots. Everywhere. Amplifiers activating across the globe. Moscow. London. Tokyo. New York. Dozens of them. All at once."He wasn't bluffing," Kessler said. "The failsafe is real."Volkov laughed. "I told you. You can't stop all of them."Cain turned. Grabbed Volkov by the collar. Slammed him against the wall."Where are they? The amplifiers. Tell me."Volkov's smile didn't waver. "Everywhere. Hidden in plain sight. Under government buildings. In military bases. In the centers of power. They've been there for years. Waiting.""How do we stop them?""You don't."Cain pressed harder. Volkov choked but kept smiling."Kill me," Volkov wheezed. "It won't matter. The activation is automatic now. The Strays are coming. All of them."Lena pulled Cain back. "Don't. He wants you to do it."Cain released him. Volkov slumped. Still smiling.Anna ran to a console. "I can track them. The amplifiers. They're broadcasting coordinates."