Chapter 35: The Thread in the Dark

Vespera

The sound of the servers in the Alpine Ridge command room filled the dark room, like a huge machine breathing.

Outside, the snowstorm had become so bad that everything was covered in white. But inside the underground control room, the air was warm and smelled of burning electronics. Twelve computer screens glowed in front of me, lighting up my face as I sat in Kasimir’s leather chair with a heavy headset covering my ears.

Three hours had passed since the trap at the Sankt Gallen pass.

Soren had used false information to lure us into danger, but he had made one mistake. He had forgotten that I knew how my father planned and organized his transport routes.

When Team Alpha took control of the helicopter’s communication system, we hadn’t escaped the way Soren expected. Kasimir had used the storm as cover to land at another railway track nearby. Meanwhile, I had broken through the security codes from the estate’s main computer and helped him avoid the trap.

Now, Kasimir was inside the abandoned industrial building at the bottom of the mountain pass. He was moving through its dark corridors alone.

“I’m at the lower entrance,” Kasimir said through my headset. His voice was deep and rough, and I could hear him breathing heavily. “The main locks are damaged, Vespera. What does the building plan say?”

My fingers moved quickly across the touchscreen as I opened the original building plans from 1984.

My hands were no longer shaking. The fear that had controlled me for weeks was gone. In its place was a cold, sharp focus.

“Don’t touch the pipe on your left,” I warned him. “It’s connected to another pressure switch. If you cut it, the emergency steel doors will come down and trap you in the lower level.”

There was a brief silence. Then I heard a faint metallic sound as he used his wire cutters to get around the second safety valve.

“Done,” Kasimir murmured. His voice became softer and warmer. Even in the freezing room, his words sent a strange tingling feeling through my body. “You’re good at this, little bird.”

“Focus, Kasimir,” I whispered, although my heart gave a heavy thump in my chest.

“Two people are moving toward the main floor,” I told him. “They’re near the backup generators. If they cut the power supply to the cryogenic vault, Liesea’s trial medicine will be ruined in six minutes.”

“I see them,” he whispered.

I could hear his boots moving quietly across the wet concrete through the microphone.

On the screen showing his vital signs, his heart rate was steady at 112 beats per minute. He was calm, dangerous, and completely focused on the mission.

For months, we had been trapped in a dangerous game of secrets and suspicion. I had believed Kasimir was nothing more than my jailer the ruthless heir to the powerful empire that had destroyed my family.

But as I sat thirty miles away, watching his movements on the screen and guiding him through the building, I realized something that frightened me more than I wanted to admit.

I trusted him with my life.

And he trusted me with his.

“Take three steps back!” I suddenly ordered, staring at a sudden change on the third screen.

I had spotted something dangerous in the infrared scan.

“The floor above you is damaged,” I warned him quickly. “There’s a motion sensor connected to the main support beam. If you trigger it, something could come crashing down on you.”

Kasimir immediately stopped moving. On the live thermal screen, I watched him crouch close to the floor and raise his gun. Two armed men passed nearby without noticing him.

“Clear,” he whispered.

A moment later, I heard two quiet gunshots through my headset. The sound was muffled, but I knew he had taken the men down.

“I’m at the vault door,” he said.

“There’s only four minutes left, Kasimir,” I warned him, leaning closer to the screen. My heart was pounding hard against my chest. “The code is a five-digit combination based on the Baltic shipping records. Enter three-seven-nine”

“I don’t need the code,” he interrupted softly.

His voice was calm, but there was something dangerous in it.

“I’m breaking the door down.”

I heard a loud scraping sound through my headset as he forced a steel crowbar into the gap around the vault door. He pushed his heavy shoulder against the metal frame, using all his strength until the lock finally broke with a deafening crack.

“I’ve got the vault,” Kasimir said, breathing heavily. But I could hear the satisfaction in his voice. “The temperature is stable. The medicine is safe, Vespera.”

A sob of relief escaped me. Tears filled my eyes as I covered my face with both hands.

“Thank God,” I whispered. “Oh, thank God.”

For the first time in hours, I could breathe again. Liesea’s medicine was safe. There was still hope for my sister.

“I’m bringing her medicine home,” Kasimir said. His voice softened, becoming so warm and gentle that it touched a part of my heart I had tried so hard to protect. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes, my wife.”

Then the call ended, leaving only a soft hissing sound in my headset.

I took a deep breath and wiped the tears from my cheeks. I was about to shut down the main computer when the server behind me suddenly made a sharp electronic sound.

I turned toward the screens.

A hidden backup drive had been secretly downloading encrypted recordings from the small camera attached to Kasimir’s belt during the operation. Without warning, it had opened one of the recordings on the main screen.

The video showed Kasimir breaking into the room where the cryogenic vault was kept.

But he wasn’t alone.

Someone was standing in the shadows beside the open vault.

Jonas.

He was holding a silenced gun and pointing it directly at Kasimir’s chest.

My body went completely still.

Then the recording played the last few seconds of audio captured just before the communication line went dead.

Jonas spoke in a quiet, cold voice.

“Put the box down, Kasimir. Greta sends her regards.” In that moment, the relief I had felt disappeared.

Jonas had betrayed him and Greta Adler was behind it all.