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Chapter Thirteen
The conference room on the FBI's fourth floor had been converted into a tactical planning center. Whiteboards covered with diagrams. Laptops showing surveillance feeds. Six agents, including Ellis, huddled around a table covered in maps of downtown Chicago.Sarah stood at the center of it all, feeling like prey volunteering for the slaughter."The concept is sound," Ellis was saying, pointing to a red circle on the map. "We put Chen in a visible, controlled location. Somewhere Devereaux would see as an easy target but we can monitor completely.""And we're certain Devereaux will take the bait?" Agent Torres, mid-thirties with sharp eyes, looked skeptical. "He's been careful so far. Why would he risk exposure going after Chen?""Because she's the biggest threat besides Kane," Ellis replied. "She has Foster's documents. She witnessed Moss's activation. If Devereaux is planning a terminal cascade, Chen is absolutely on his target list."Sarah studied the map. The red circle marked Grant
Chapter Twelve
The Lincoln Park safe house was a third-floor apartment above a Korean restaurant. Marcus could smell kimchi and grilled meat through the floorboards as he checked the windows for the third time in twenty minutes.Still clear. No suspicious vehicles. No unmarked vans. No cops staking out the building.He'd been here for two hours, and the waiting was killing him.His phone; the compromised one, sat on the kitchen counter like a live grenade. He'd powered it on once, just long enough to see the message from Devereaux. Six hours. Now it was closer to four.Four hours until the final activation.Four hours until eight cops became murderers and then corpses.Marcus paced the small apartment. Living room barely bigger than his cell had been. Kitchen with ancient appliances. Bathroom with a shower that probably hadn't been updated since the nineties. But it had a bed, running water, and…most importantly, no one knew he was here except Ellis.And Ellis wasn't answering his calls.Marcus had
Chapter Eleven
The interrogation room at FBI headquarters was different from the ones at CPD. Cleaner. Better lighting. But it still had that same oppressive weight that made everyone who sat in it feel guilty.Sarah sat alone, hands uncuffed but an agent posted outside. Not technically under arrest. Not technically free either.She'd been here for thirty minutes. No Ellis. No updates. Just her and the two-way mirror and the knowledge that Marcus was out there alone with six hours until Devereaux's final move.The door opened. Ellis entered carrying two cups of coffee and a tablet. He set one cup in front of Sarah and took the seat across from her."You're lucky I convinced them you're a cooperating witness and not a suspect," he said. "Chicago PD wants you in custody. The US Attorney wants to file charges. And Homeland Security is trying to figure out if this qualifies as domestic terrorism.""Does it?" Sarah wrapped her hands around the cup. "Because using cops as programmable assassins sounds ter
Chapter Ten
The FBI field office was a fortress of glass and steel in downtown Chicago, the kind of building designed to look welcoming while being nearly impossible to breach. Marcus parked the stolen Civic two blocks away, engine idling."This is a terrible idea," he said."You have a better one?" Sarah was already checking her weapon, making sure she had a full magazine."We could call. Leave a message. Anonymous tip.""Ellis isn't answering his phone. That means either he's in a meeting, or he's compromised, or….""Or he's already dead and we're about to walk into a trap." Marcus watched the building's entrance. Normal foot traffic. People in suits coming and going. No visible crisis. "If Devereaux sent someone to kill Ellis, they'd do it quietly. No alarms. No lockdown. Just one dead FBI agent and a story about a heart attack or accident.""Which is why we need to get in there. Now." Sarah opened her door.Marcus grabbed her arm. "Sarah. If we go in there, we're done. Federal building. Camer
Chapter Nine
Sarah's phone rang as they hit the street behind Whitmore's building. Ellis."Talk to me," she answered, scanning for patrol cars."We got three," Ellis said without preamble. "Detective Lisa Park, Officer Andre Williams, and Sergeant Michael Torres. All alive. All fighting the protocol like Whitmore did.""That's four total. What about the other six?"Silence stretched too long."Ellis.""Two confirmed dead. Detective Robert Chen; no relation to you, and Officer Patricia Hammond. Both completed the protocol before we reached them. Chen shot himself in his garage. Hammond walked into traffic on the expressway."Sarah's stomach turned. She'd known Patricia Hammond. Not well, but enough to remember her laugh at the Christmas party last year. Enough to remember she had a daughter starting college."The other four?""Still looking. We've got teams on three of them. The fourth; Detective Kevin Nash, is off grid. Phone's dead. No activity on his credit cards. Either he's already gone or he'
Chapter Eight
The streets blurred past as Sarah drove, weaving through traffic with controlled aggression. Marcus gripped the door handle, the burner phone tight in his other hand.Eight blocks to Detective James Whitmore's location. Twenty-seven minutes until the suicide protocol completed."Tell me about Whitmore," Sarah said, running a red light."9th Precinct. Homicide. Former Marine. Two tours in Iraq. Good cop." Marcus checked the phone again. "We worked a case together once. Solid guy.""Married?""Divorced two years ago. Ellis sent his file. He volunteered for Meridian eighteen months after PTSD and depression."Just like Marcus. Just like all of them. Broken people looking for a fix, and Devereaux had offered a solution that turned them into weapons."What's the plan?" Marcus asked."Stop him from killing himself. Everything else is secondary."They pulled up to Whitmore's building six minutes later. Five-story walkup, peeling paint, bars on ground-floor windows. The kind of place cops li
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