The Ciphered city

Chapter Four – The City as Code

The image of Nina burned in Adrian’s mind, but his eyes kept drifting to the blurred background—the crude map of Halcyon marked with strange symbols.

“The city itself is the code,” Kaine’s message had said.

Adrian enlarged the photo, tracing the marks with his fingertip. “These aren’t random placements. They line up with the old city grid, pre-redevelopment.”

Iris frowned, crouched beside him under the pier’s shadows. “Meaning what?”

“Halcyon wasn’t built cleanly. The original grid from the 19th century was overlaid with modern zoning. Kaine’s symbols… they’re sitting on fault lines where the old city still bleeds through.”

Iris tilted her head. “So these are… locations?”

“Yes. But not just locations. They’re pressure points. If Kaine’s mapped out all these sites, then he’s planning something massive.”

Adrian’s pulse hammered. He looked at Nina’s terrified eyes in the photo. “This isn’t just about her. He’s using her as leverage—to drag me into his bigger puzzle.”

Iris stood, pulling out her phone. “I’m calling it in. We need units to sweep those sites.”

But when she reached her contact at precinct command, her expression shifted from frustration to disbelief.

“Yes, Captain. I understand… No, I don’t think that’s wise… With respect, sir, this is urgent.”

She hung up, jaw tight.

“They’re refusing,” she said flatly. “Captain Vega says we don’t have the manpower for a citywide sweep. He wants us to sit tight until tomorrow, wait for ‘confirmed intelligence.’”

Adrian’s chest went cold. “Wait? With a madman setting traps across Halcyon?”

Iris’s fists clenched. “It’s worse. Vega told me to drop this case. Said it’s being handled by another division. He doesn’t want me or you anywhere near it.”

The words hit like lead. Adrian stared at her. “Kaine’s inside the system. He’s pulling strings.”

Iris’s silence was answer enough. 

They couldn’t trust official channels. That much was clear.

“Then we go around them,” Adrian said. “We need the internal files—crime reports, dispatch logs, anything tied to those sites.”

Iris’s eyes narrowed. “That means breaking into precinct servers. You realize what you’re asking me to do?”

“You want to save my sister? Then we stop playing by their rules.”

Minutes later, they slipped into Iris’s unmarked car and drove toward Central Precinct. The city loomed around them, lights glinting like a circuit board. Adrian couldn’t shake the feeling he was walking inside Kaine’s design, every road and alley part of a larger pattern.

At the precinct, Iris led him through a side entrance with her badge. The building was half-lit, most of the force still deployed around the docks.

They slipped into the records room. Adrian set his laptop on the desk, fingers flying as he bypassed firewalls. His pulse surged with adrenaline, the thrill of code-breaking almost overpowering the fear gnawing at him.

Lines of data streamed across the screen—incident reports, classified memos, digital maps. Adrian’s algorithms sorted through them like teeth through bone.

Then he found it.

A restricted folder labeled “Operation Magnus.”

Adrian’s stomach clenched. The same word Kaine had embedded in the bomb puzzle.

He clicked. The screen filled with schematics, reports stamped with red confidentiality tags. Iris leaned closer, her face taut with disbelief.

“These are… evacuation protocols. District-wide. Scheduled drills across half the city tomorrow night.”

Adrian scrolled further. “No… not drills. These are diversions. While law enforcement is tied up with fake emergencies, Kaine will move freely through the city.”

Iris’s voice dropped to a whisper. “This isn’t a lone psychopath. Someone in the precinct authorized this.”

And then Adrian saw it: the signature at the bottom of the orders.

Captain Luis Vega.

Iris’s mentor. Her commanding officer.

The room seemed to tilt. Iris backed away, her face pale. “No. No, Vega wouldn’t—he wouldn’t sign off on this. He’s strict, but he’s not corrupt.”

Adrian swallowed. “Kaine has him. Either he’s compromised… or complicit.”

A noise snapped them both alert. Footsteps in the hallway.

“Shut it down,” Iris hissed.

Adrian yanked the flash drive from his laptop, tucking it into his pocket just as the door swung open.

Captain Vega filled the doorway, a broad figure in his fifties, his uniform pressed sharp. His eyes narrowed at Iris and Adrian, then flicked to the still-warm computer.

“I should’ve known,” Vega said quietly. “You never could follow orders, Detective.”

Iris’s hand twitched near her holster. “Sir, with respect—what is Operation Magnus?”

Vega’s jaw tightened. For a long moment, silence hung thick between them. Then he stepped closer.

“You’re chasing ghosts you don’t understand. If you value your career, Iris, you’ll walk away now. Both of you.”

Adrian spoke before he could stop himself. “Kaine has Nina. He’s planning something citywide. And you’re helping him.”

Vega’s eyes hardened. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He reached for his radio. Iris moved first. Her gun cleared its holster, pointed straight at her captain. Her voice shook.

“Don’t make me do this, sir.”

The room froze in taut silence. Vega studied her, something unreadable flickering in his gaze. Then he slowly lowered his radio.

“You’ll damn us all,” he said softly. “But if you want to play heroes, you’ll need to move fast. Kaine’s second key is already in motion.”

And with that, he turned and walked out.

Adrian exhaled shakily, his heart racing. “He let us go.”

“No,” Iris muttered, lowering her gun. “He warned us.”

They returned to the laptop, pulling up the last decrypted file before shutting it down. It wasn’t a report—it was a live feed.

A camera view of an underground tunnel. Workers in hazmat suits moved equipment beneath the city, crates marked with chemical hazard symbols.

At the bottom corner: a timestamp. Tomorrow, 23:45.

Adrian felt the ground shift under him. “He’s not just setting traps. He’s preparing a strike—something chemical, maybe biological. The bomb was just a test.”

Iris’s hand trembled slightly as she closed the file. “If Kaine unleashes that, it won’t just be a body count. It’ll cripple Halcyon for decades.”

They exchanged a look—terror, determination, and something unspoken binding them.

Adrian pulled the flash drive from his pocket. “Then we stop him before midnight tomorrow. No matter what it takes.”

They slipped out of the precinct into the cool night air. The city hummed around them, oblivious to the storm brewing beneath its streets.

Adrian’s phone buzzed again. Another message from Kaine.

It wasn’t a photo this time. It was a live audio feed.

Nina’s voice, raw with fear:

“Adrian… please… he says you have twelve hours… or he’ll make me the next demonstration.”

Static hissed. Then Kaine’s voice, calm and cruel:

“The city is my canvas. And tomorrow, Adrian, I’ll paint in blood.”

The feed cut.

Adrian’s hands shook around the phone. His sister’s terror echoed in his skull. He looked at Iris, whose jaw was set like stone.

Time was running out.

And Kaine had just raised the stakes again.