Masuk"Put your weapons down," I said, walking out of the clinic doors.Adrian's soldiers raised their rifles, but I kept my hands open in plain view. Cairos stepped out right behind me, his weapon drawn, his jaw set so tight I could see the muscles twitching."Veyra, don't do this," Cairos said."Lower the gun, Cairos," I told him, looking him straight in the eyes. "I'm surrendering.""Are you insane?""They need me and the pendant to open the main safe inside the vault," I said. "This is the only way we get inside before Lucien or the Council wipes the evidence."Cairos stared at me for three long seconds. He saw the calculation in my eyes, and he finally lowered his firearm. "If they touch you, I bring this whole city down."Adrian stepped forward, signaling his men to hold their fire. "Smart choice, Veyra."Two minutes later, I sat in the back of an armored military transport. Adrian sat across from me, the heavy steel doors locked shut."You're acting very calm for someone under arrest
"Take Aldous to the medical clinic now," I told Veyra over the radio. "I'll head back to the house.""Why?" Veyra asked. Her voice sounded strained. "Serena's phone is switched off.""Darius's trackers just picked up three unmarked vehicles turning onto my street," I said. "Lucien's men aren't looking for you right now. They're heading to my house for Zuri's coat."I ended the call and slammed my foot on the gas pedal.I pulled up to the driveway three minutes later. Engine smoke filled the air, and glass from the front windows littered the porch. Darius was pinned down behind his SUV near the gate, exchanging rapid gunfire with two men on the lawn."They breached the roof and the garage!" Darius yelled over the noise. "Zuri is still inside upstairs!"I didn't wait for backup. I drew my sidearm, kicked the back door open, and stepped inside.The hallway was chaotic. Wood splinters fell from the ceiling as automatic fire chewed through the walls. A heavy mercenary rounded the corner ne
"They're broadcasting live from inside this building," I said. I grabbed Darius by the arm. "Move!""Where are we going?" Darius asked as we ran down the marble stairs."The Council security office downstairs," I answered. "That's the only node with enough bandwidth to hijack my network."Cairos and Adrian stayed behind to hold off the Council guards. Darius and I kicked the security office door open. Two low-level technicians jumped out of their seats."Get out!" I shouted, pulling my gun.They ran without asking questions. I slid into the master console chair and plugged in my override key."Can you stop the feed?" Darius asked, watching the screens above us."I'm killing the main transmitter right now," I said. My fingers flew across the keyboard. "The hack came from the Chairperson's private server. He wanted the outer settlements to march on the gates."I slammed the enter key. The public screens across the city cut to static for two seconds. Then my encrypted logo flooded every
"I did seal that vault three years ago." Veyra stood tall in the center of the chamber. Her voice cut clean through the dead silence.The Chairperson slammed his hand on the table. "You hear that? She just confessed to high treason on the official record!""Let her finish," I said. My hand stayed rested on my sidearm."That vault doesn't hold military weapons," Veyra said, looking directly at the Council members. "It holds emergency medical reserves and food stockpiles. The exact supplies you told the outer settlements didn't exist when the winter fever hit."A low murmur rippled through the gallery of officials."Why did you lock it?" I asked her quietly.Veyra turned her eyes toward me. "Councilor Aldous Marren discovered the Chairperson was planning to sell those reserves to black market syndicates. He asked me to use my clearance to seal the doors so no one could touch them.""Why didn't you tell me, Veyra?" I asked. The words burned in my throat. "We've been fighting this war tog
"Read the treason charge again, and I will prove you are the ones committing it."I stood in the center of the Council chamber. Cairos stood right beside me.The Chairperson slammed his wooden gavel. "You are out of order, Veyra.""I am saving us time," I said.I threw a stack of printed files onto the long oak table."At two zero five yesterday morning, someone disabled the security cameras around the safe house using a Directorate Master Code," I told the room. "At two ten, a spoofed relay text forced a civilian to deliver winter clothes to my ward. By two fifteen, the child was gone.""What does this have to do with you accessing a restricted defense vault?" the Chairperson demanded."Because the authorization form you used to charge me is a fake," I answered. "The signature is forged. But the counter seal stamped next to it is authentic."I looked directly at Hayes. He sat at the far end of the table. He looked sick."Tell them who the seal belongs to, Hayes," I ordered.Hayes swa
"We found Nadia's brother," Darius said through the phone speaker."Is he alive?" I asked. I gripped the steering wheel tightly."He is breathing just fine. We just cut his chains." Darius paused. "But we found someone else here. A dead man.""Who is it?""The security official in the grey suit," Darius answered. "The exact same man you told me to tail from the Senate building."My pulse took a sudden halt. Lucien was tying up loose ends. He was killing anyone who could talk about the vault theft."Secure the boy," I ordered. "Don't let anyone else inside that warehouse."I hung up the phone and drove straight to the Directorate. The sun wasn't up yet. The hallways were empty. I bypassed the front desk and walked directly into Hayes's office.I threw the forged vault form onto his wooden desk."Check the signature," I demanded.Hayes jumped in his chair. He pulled his glasses down and looked at the paper. "This is Veyra's signature.""She didn't sign it," I said. "Look at the counters







