Chapter 49: Bloodline of Shadows

Red laser dots danced across the trees, the ground, the bodies.

Dozens. Maybe more.

They were surrounded.

Alexander pulled Lena behind him instinctively, but she yanked her hand free and moved to his side. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it would burst.

Elias stood slightly apart, gun raised, posture relaxed but eyes razor sharp.

The kill team emerged through the trees in formation — black tactical gear, helmets, silencers, rifles. Thirty at least. Maybe forty.

All guns aimed.

The leader stepped forward, his voice cold through the mask:

“Elias Knight. Lena Carter. Alexander Knight. You are ordered to surrender the microdrive.”

Lena stiffened.

Alexander’s hand brushed hers, a silent promise: I won’t let them take you.

Elias tilted his head. “How much did Adrian pay you to die tonight?”

The leader didn’t react. “The file. Now.”

Elias smirked. “Come take it.”

Rifles lifted, all red dots moving onto Lena’s chest.

Alexander stepped in front of her instantly. “Shoot her, and every one of you dies.”

“Back away, Mr. Knight,” the leader said. “We have orders.”

Then his masked visor turned slightly toward Elias.

“And you. The Circle wants you alive. But I am not paid to care why.”

Elias shrugged. “You should.”

The leader blinked. “Why is that?”

Elias lowered his gun slightly — not in surrender, but in intention.

“Because,” he said, voice cold and clear,

“I’m the rightful heir of the Circle.”

Lena’s breath caught.

Alexander’s eyes widened.

The kill team froze.

The leader lifted his head. “Impossible. Adrian Knight was the heir.”

Elias laughed — dark, hollow. “My father lied to everyone. Including you.”

The leader stiffened. “Prove it.”

Elias reached calmly into his pocket.

Alexander tensed, ready to drag Lena to the ground.

“Relax,” Elias murmured. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.”

He pulled something from his pocket — a metal emblem, matte black, shaped like a ring with a diagonal slash.

The insignia of the Split Circle.

Elias held it up between two fingers.

It glowed faintly in the dark.

The leader inhaled sharply.

“The Mark of Bloodline… only the direct successor—”

“—can activate it,” Elias finished.

He pressed his thumb into the symbol.

It pulsed red.

Every soldier froze.

Alexander spat, “You lied to everyone. Including me.”

Elias didn’t look away from the kill team. “I lied to survive.”

The leader spoke again, voice slow.

“So you were never exiled.”

“No,” Elias said.

“My father hid me. To protect the secret that he wasn’t the heir.”

The leader’s voice wavered. “Then who was?”

Elias smiled — a small, sad, lethal smile.

“My mother.”

The forest fell silent.

Lena’s jaw dropped. “Your… mother?”

Elias nodded. “Adrian Knight married into power. But my mother’s bloodline was the original Circle founder. She was the rightful heir. Not him.”

Alexander felt his stomach twist. “And she died… because of Father?”

Elias’s voice dropped. “Yes. He killed her to take control. And then he lied to both of us.”

The kill team shifted uncertainly.

The leader lowered his gun slightly. “If what you say is true, then your authority supersedes our orders.”

Elias stepped forward.

“Good,” he said softly. “Because I order you to leave.”

Silence.

Then—

“No,” the leader said.

Elias stopped.

Alexander tensed. “What?”

The leader aimed his rifle directly at Lena’s chest.

“Adrian Knight is dead,” he said.

“But Marcus Hale is not. And his orders outrank yours.”

Lena’s breath froze. “Marcus…”

Alexander cursed. “He wants the file!”

The leader’s voice sharpened. “Our orders are to retrieve Lena Carter alive. You two—”

He pointed to Alexander and Elias.

“—are expendable.”

Elias’s eyes narrowed into something lethal.

Something ancient.

Something inherited.

“You made a mistake coming after her,” he said quietly.

The leader raised his hand to signal the attack—

But Elias was faster.

He shot the nearest soldier clean through the visor.

Chaos exploded.

Alexander pulled Lena into cover behind a fallen log. “STAY DOWN!”

Bullets shredded the leaves above them. Trees splintered. Smoke filled the air.

Elias moved like a shadow, dropping soldier after soldier with terrifying precision.

Three shots. Three kills.

One movement. Two disarms.

Alexander fired from cover, hitting two more.

But there were too many.

Lena peeked out for one second—

“LENA, DOWN!” Alexander roared, yanking her back just as a bullet tore through the bark where her head had been.

Her heart thundered.

“Elias!” Alexander yelled. “We need the left flank cleared!”

“Working on it,” Elias snapped, tackling a soldier to the ground and breaking his neck with brutal efficiency.

Lena crawled closer to Alexander, clutching the microdrive deep in her pocket.

Alexander grabbed her face, eyes intense. “Are you hurt?!”

“No—no, I’m okay—”

“Stay behind me,” he ordered.

They ducked as explosives went off on the right side.

Elias turned to them, shouting over the chaos:

“Lena! Listen to me!”

She lifted her head.

Elias pointed at her pocket. “The drive — it’s broadcasting a signal.”

Lena’s heart stopped. “What?”

“That’s why they keep finding us!” Elias yelled. “Your mother built in a tracking beacon. She wanted you protected — she didn’t think the Circle would take over the network!”

Alexander cursed. “How do we turn it off?!”

“You can’t!” Elias shouted. “Only one person can disable it!”

Lena’s eyes widened. “Who?!”

Elias met her gaze.

And the truth hit her like a blow.

“HER,” he said.

“Your mother.”

Lena froze. “She’s dead—how—how can—”

“She left the shutoff code!” Elias shouted back. “It’s locked inside the rest of the file — the part you haven’t opened yet.”

A bullet grazed Alexander’s arm. He winced but kept firing.

Lena gasped. “Then what do I do?!”

“Open it!” Elias yelled.

“I don’t know how!”

“You will,” Elias said. “Because she trusted you to.”

Before Lena could respond—

A soldier lunged out of the bushes behind her.

Alexander turned too late.

“LENA!!”

The soldier grabbed her by the neck and hauled her to her feet, pressing a knife to her throat.

Lena screamed—

And Elias whirled around, eyes blazing.

“LET. HER. GO.”

The soldier tightened his grip. “Give me the girl,” he snarled.

Elias’s voice dropped into a tone Lena had never heard before.

Pure death.

“You’re already dead.”

He fired.

The soldier’s body dropped at Lena’s feet.

Elias caught her before she fell.

“You okay?” he breathed.

Lena stared up at him, terrified and shaking. “Elias—what do I do with the file?!”

Elias glanced at Alexander — who was fighting off two more attackers.

Then he looked back at her.

“Your mother didn’t just leave you information,” he said.

“She left you a command.”

Lena’s heart pounded. “What command?”

Elias touched her pocket gently.

“One sentence,” he said softly.

“Only you know it.”

Lena froze.

Her breath caught.

Her mother’s last hologram had spoken to her.

Not just about the file.

But something else.

Something she didn’t understand at the time.

A phrase.

A message.

A key.

Lena whispered it under her breath.

And the microdrive in her pocket began to glow.