GOLDEN PALM

Chapter 4 – “Bloodline Echo”

The world came back in fragments, rain, smoke, and the metallic taste of blood. Nicholas pushed himself upright, ears ringing.

What was left of the docks burned in crooked lines of fire. The river hissed, swallowing the flames that fell into it. “Elara!”

Her voice answered weakly from behind an overturned container. “Still… breathing.”

Ash Verek staggered into view, one sleeve gone, face streaked with soot. He dropped beside Nicholas.

“You good?”

“Define good.”

Ash coughed. “That hologram, was that really your old man?”

“No,” Nicholas said flatly. “He’s dead.”

“Then he’s got one hell of a ghost.”

Nicholas’s gaze drifted to the water. Pieces of the blown micro-chip floated like dying fireflies. “He said son,” Elara murmured, limping closer. “You never told me your father was part of the program.”

“Because he wasn’t.”

“Seems someone disagrees.”

Nicholas grabbed a half-melted fragment from the water. A faint symbol was etched into the metal, a double helix crossed by a crown.

His stomach turned. “That’s Mayford biotech. Prototype branding. We destroyed those years ago.”

“Apparently not all of them,” Ash said.

“If that tech survived, so did the data. Which means”

“they can rebuild Aesir,” Elara finished.

Sirens wailed again, closer this time. Ash checked his watch. “We’ve got four minutes before this place swarms with uniforms. Where to?”

Nicholas hesitated, staring at the burning river. “The Crypt.”

“You serious?” Elara asked. “That bunker hasn’t been opened since you vanished.”

“Then it’s the one place they won’t expect.”

Ash frowned. “You realize that facility’s still under Mayford family lockout.”

“I still have the key.”

He reached into his coat and pulled out a small medical injector, modified, sleek, etched with the same crown-and-helix symbol. “You kept that?” Elara asked.

“It’s not just a key,” Nicholas said. “It’s blood access. Only works on one genome, mine.”

A low hum filled the air. Across the river, floodlights snapped on. Drones buzzed upward, sweeping the area. “Time’s up,” Ash muttered.

“Then move.”

They sprinted down the service road, rain pelting harder. The explosions had drawn every eye in Orivale, which was exactly what Ghost Command wanted.

As they reached the bridge underpass, a drone locked onto them, light flaring red. “Down!” Nicholas barked. He fired a single shot from Ash’s sidearm. The drone burst into shards of metal and sparks.

“Nice aim,” Ash said.

“Nerve mapping never forgets.”

They kept running until the burning docks were nothing but orange haze behind them. Elara fell into step beside Nicholas. “You’re shaking.”

“Adrenaline.”

“Liar. You saw his face, you think he’s alive.”

Nicholas didn’t answer. Ash broke the silence. “Where’s this Crypt?”

“Below Sector Nine. Medical district. We’ll need clearance codes.”

“Which you have?”

“No,” Nicholas said. “But I know who does.”

Rain blurred the neon lights as they slipped through Orivale’s backstreets. Garbage trucks rumbled somewhere above, drowning out sirens. Ash glanced sideways.

“Who’s got the codes?”

“Dr. Kellan Rho,” Nicholas said.

“Rho?” Elara frowned. “Didn’t he testify against you?”

“Exactly why he’ll help. Guilt’s a powerful motivator.”

They reached the rusted door of an old pharmacy. Nicholas tapped a rhythm against the keypad, four slow beats, two fast. The lock clicked. Inside, fluorescent lights flickered over empty shelves.

A voice came from the shadows. “You really shouldn’t be here.”

Dr. Kellan Rho stepped out, lab coat half-buttoned, pistol shaking in one hand. “Hello, Kellan,” Nicholas said evenly.

“They said you were dead.”

“They say a lot of things.”

Rho’s eyes darted to the others. “Who are they?”

“People who want to live through the night,” Ash muttered.

Nicholas stepped forward, palms open. “I need the Sector Nine access codes.”

“You can’t be serious. That facility’s under Ghost Command lockdown.”

“Then you know why I need in.”

Rho swallowed. “They’re experimenting on patients, neural resequencing, regenerative trials. It’s your serum, Nick. They branded it as Project Rebirth.”

“How far have they gotten?” Nicholas asked.

“Human trials started last month. Volunteers… weren’t volunteers.”

Elara’s jaw tightened. “They’re turning civilians into weapons.”

Nicholas held out the injector-key.

“Can this still open the lower levels?”

“Maybe. The blood matrix hasn’t changed, but once you activate it, every camera in the grid will flag your DNA.”

“We’ll worry about cameras after we stop the slaughter.”

Rho hesitated, then tossed a data chip. “Access codes, main elevator, sub-level three. You didn’t get them from me.”

Ash pocketed it. “We’re gone in sixty seconds.”

They turned toward the exit, but Rho called out.

“Nicholas… your father’s alive.”

Nicholas froze. “Say that again.”

“I saw him two days ago, at the Sector Nine labs. He’s not the same. The experiments changed him. They call him Director Prime now.”

Elara’s eyes widened. “That hologram wasn’t a recording.”

Rho nodded grimly. “He’s leading Ghost Command.”

A gunshot shattered the pharmacy window. Rho’s head snapped back, he crumpled before anyone moved.

“Sniper!” Ash shouted. They dove behind the counter as more rounds punched through glass and tile.

“We’re pinned!” Elara hissed. “Not for long,” Nicholas growled.

He yanked a small vial from his pocket, clear fluid, faintly luminescent. Injected it into his neck. Muscles tensed, veins flaring with light.

Ash stared. “What the hell is that?”

“Prototype R-13,” Nicholas said. “My father’s first mistake.”

He vaulted over the counter, bullets slicing past. His movements were too fast, too fluid, guided by something beyond reflex. One shot, two, and the sniper went silent.

When Nicholas looked back, smoke curled from his pistol. His pupils glowed faintly silver. Elara whispered,

“Nick… what did that serum do to you?”

He didn’t answer. He just stared through the broken window, rain washing blood off his hands.

“It reminded me who I am.”

Then his comm crackled, Ash’s device, but the voice wasn’t Ash’s. “Welcome home, son.”

Nicholas froze. The line filled with the low hum of machinery, then the unmistakable rhythm of a heartbeat—his own, mirrored. “Sector Nine awaits you.”

The signal cut. Nicholas’s hand tightened on the injector. “Then let’s go meet the dead.”