Chapter 51: Lockdown

Malik

The mechanical voice echoed across the estate.

“Target confirmed.”

Every drone hovering above the property shifted at the exact same moment. Their blue lights pulsed in perfect synchronization, casting an eerie glow over the driveway while the steady hum of their rotors grew louder. Whatever they had been searching for, they had found it.

“They’ve locked onto her.”

Gabriel’s voice cut through the silence.

His words confirmed what I already knew.

Every instinct in my body screamed the same thing.

Zariah.

I looked at her without thinking. She stood frozen beside me, her eyes still fixed on the empty space where her mother’s recording had disappeared. Tears clung to her lashes, but there was something else in her expression now.

Determination.

She wasn’t the frightened woman I had pulled out of her apartment weeks ago. Every secret she’d uncovered had changed her. Every betrayal had hardened something inside her. She was still overwhelmed, still grieving, but beneath all of it was a strength that refused to break.

Unfortunately, whoever was hunting her had noticed it too.

“They’re preparing to fire.”

Evelyn’s warning snapped everyone back to reality.

Darius looked toward the sky before swearing under his breath. “Those aren’t surveillance drones.”

“No,” Gabriel replied. “They’re hunter drones.”

The words landed heavily between us.

“What exactly does that mean?” Zariah asked.

“It means they’re capable of tracking a target across multiple environments.” Gabriel never looked away from the machines overhead. “Once they identify someone, they don’t stop until the mission is complete.”

I didn’t need him to explain what the mission was.

I already knew.

The lead drone descended several feet, positioning itself directly above the center of the driveway. Panels along its underside slid open with a series of metallic clicks, revealing a cluster of glowing sensors that immediately turned toward us.

Toward her.

Every member of my security team raised their weapons.

“Permission to engage?” one of them called.

I never took my eyes off the drones.

“Hold.”

The order surprised everyone.

Including Darius.

“You serious?”

“If we start shooting now, we’ll expose every position we have.”

Gabriel nodded once.

“He’s right.”

Evelyn folded her umbrella and let it fall to the ground. The calm woman who had arrived only minutes earlier was gone. In her place stood someone who looked ready for war.

“They want you to panic,” she said. “The moment you scatter, they’ll isolate her.”

The realization hit me immediately.

Everything about tonight had been calculated.

The attack on the funeral home.

The chase.

The recording.

Even my mother’s message had probably been used to keep us standing in one place long enough for the drones to complete their scan.

Someone had planned this.

Someone who knew exactly how we would react.

My jaw tightened.

“I hate being predictable.”

Darius almost smiled.

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

A sharp tone echoed from the lead drone.

The sensors glowed brighter.

Then a thin red beam extended from beneath it, landing directly at Zariah’s feet before slowly climbing higher.

My pulse slowed.

Not from calm.

From focus.

The beam stopped.

Right over her heart.

“Move!”

I didn’t wait for anyone else.

I grabbed Zariah around the waist and pulled her sideways just as a brilliant flash erupted from the drone. The beam struck the driveway where she’d been standing, exploding chunks of concrete into the air. Heat washed over us as fragments rained across the property, leaving a crater nearly three feet wide.

“They’re not trying to kill her,” Gabriel shouted.

I looked at him.

“What?”

“They’re trying to tag her.”

Another drone dropped lower.

Its red beam swept across the driveway like a searchlight.

“If they mark her,” Evelyn said urgently, “every Genesis system still operating will know exactly where she is.”

The implications settled heavily in my chest.

This wasn’t just an attack.

It was a hunt.

I pulled Zariah behind the stone wall near the front entrance while Darius directed the security team into new positions. Gunfire erupted again, this time aimed entirely at the drones. Bullets sparked harmlessly against reinforced metal as the machines adjusted their altitude, weaving through the air with impossible precision.

“They’re armored!” someone shouted.

“I noticed.”

My mind raced through options.

Shoot them.

Run.

Hide.

None of them were good enough.

Then Gabriel spoke.

“EMP.”

Every head turned toward him.

“The emergency generator.”

Darius frowned.

“There’s one in the safe house.”

Gabriel shook his head.

“No.”

His eyes settled on me.

“Your father built one beneath the property.”

The world seemed to stop.

“My father built what?”

“A hardened panic bunker.”

The words barely registered before another drone fired, blasting apart the stone fountain near the driveway. Water exploded into the air as marble shattered across the lawn.

“He never told me.”

“Because he never wanted you to use it.”

Gabriel stepped closer.

“Richard built it after Genesis collapsed. It has its own power supply, its own communications network…”

He paused.

“And an electromagnetic pulse generator powerful enough to knock every drone out of the sky.”

Hope.

For the first time all night, I felt it.

“Where?”

Gabriel pointed toward the old oak tree near the edge of the property.

“Beneath it.”

I followed his gaze.

The tree stood nearly fifty yards away.

Completely exposed.

Between us and the tree stretched open ground with no cover whatsoever.

Every drone hovered directly overhead.

Every rifle on the other side of the gate remained trained on us.

Reaching that tree would be nearly impossible.

I looked at Gabriel.

He looked back at me.

Neither of us needed to say it.

One of us would have to create a distraction.

And judging by the look in his eyes…

He had already decided which one it would be.