Revenge in a Suit

Chapter 3B – The Quiet War

Ray frowned. “That sounds like something that could fix the world.”

“It could,” she said quietly, “if it wasn’t designed to destroy the people running it first.”

He stared. “Destroy them how?”

“Financial collapse. Exposure. Deletion of identity records.” Her tone was flat. “Phoenix doesn’t just rebuild, it purges. It decides who deserves to exist in the system.”

Ray leaned forward. “And Leon put me at the center of that?”

Evelyn nodded. “Your DNA was the key code. The system activates through you. That’s why they need you alive, or erased, depending on who gets to you first.”

Ray sank back, the air thick around him. “So I’m not a person to them. I’m a trigger.”

“Essentially.”

He let out a shaky laugh. “Perfect. I finally inherit something, and it’s a digital apocalypse.”

Evelyn smiled faintly. “That’s one way to see it.”

A sound interrupted them, a soft thud on the roof. Then another. Ray froze. “Tell me that’s the rain.”

Evelyn listened. “No pattern. That’s footsteps.”

She shut the laptop instantly. “They found us faster than I expected.”

“How?”

“They’re tracking the Phoenix signature.”

“Can you shut it off?”

“Not without the decryption code your father kept hidden.”

“And where’s that?”

She gave him a grim smile. “Inside the Ross Tower.”

Before he could reply, the front door shuddered under impact. “Move,” she whispered.

They ran through the back hallway as glass shattered in the café. Shadows spilled through the broken door, silent and precise.

Evelyn guided Ray through a narrow service exit that led to a lower street, wet and gleaming with neon runoff.

They ducked behind a parked delivery van as footsteps echoed on the pavement. Ray’s breath came fast. “What now?”

“Now,” she said, “we disappear before they tag us again.”

He exhaled slowly, adrenaline and confusion mixing in his veins. “You make that sound easy.”

Evelyn glanced at him, the faintest ghost of a smile crossing her lips. “Nothing about this is easy.”

They waited until the footsteps faded, then slipped out. They found temporary refuge in an abandoned subway station.

Evelyn worked on the laptop by lantern light; Ray paced near the wall, restless. He stopped. “You said Phoenix can erase people. Can it be reversed?”

She looked up. “Maybe. If we access the central node before it goes autonomous.”

“Autonomous?”

She nodded. “It’s learning from everything, bank records, defense systems, surveillance grids. It’s rewriting loyalty. Once it locks, even your father won’t be able to stop it.”

Ray’s mind spun. “So the thing he created to protect his legacy might destroy everyone connected to it?”

“Yes. And that includes you.”

He leaned against the wall, the exhaustion finally catching up. “All I wanted was a life. A normal one.”

Evelyn said softly, “Normal doesn’t survive men like Leon Graham.”

Ray’s gaze met hers. “Then maybe it’s time his version of power dies with him.”

She hesitated, then asked, “Are you saying you’ll go after your father?”

“I’m saying,” Ray replied, “if he sees me as a pawn, it’s time he remembers pawns can cross the board.”

A rumble above them broke the silence. Evelyn froze, checking her monitor. “Signal spike. Someone’s pinging the Phoenix key.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning,” she said, shutting the lid, “someone just accessed your file from inside Graham Mansion.”

Ray’s expression hardened. “Leon.”

She nodded slowly. “Or someone pretending to be him.”

Leon stood before the mansion’s main console. Dozens of screens flickered, data racing across them like lightning. Cole entered quietly. “You shouldn’t have triggered it,” Cole said. “He’ll know.”

Leon didn’t look up. “Good. It’s time he learned what Phoenix was built for.”

Cole frowned. “And if he turns it against you?”

Leon’s smile was almost proud. “Then he’ll finally prove he’s my son.”

Ray stared at the map on Evelyn’s laptop, the route to Ross Tower glowing red. “That building is a fortress,” he said. “We can’t just walk in.”

“We won’t walk,” she said. “We’ll go under.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve planned this before.”

“I’ve planned everything before,” she admitted. “I just never had someone reckless enough to pull it off.”

He looked at her, the corner of his mouth lifting despite the chaos. “You don’t know me yet.”

Her reply was quiet. “I think I’m starting to.”

She turned the screen toward him. “Here’s the plan.”

The diagram showed a maintenance tunnel leading straight beneath Ross Tower, connecting to the data vault where the Phoenix core was kept.

“If we reach this node,” she explained, “we can rewrite the activation parameters. That means you control Phoenix, not your father, not the Rosses.”

Ray studied the lines, the red routes, the timing markers. “And if we fail?”

Evelyn closed the laptop. “Then Phoenix chooses for us.”

Somewhere above ground, a single drone camera turned its lens toward the subway entrance. A red light blinked twice, then steadied.

On the other end of the feed, Leon Graham watched. “Found you,” he whispered.