The world had gone quiet. Too quiet. Smoke still clung to Camilla’s jacket as she stepped out of the unmarked SUV, her boots crunching on the gravel outside the Phoenix Safehouse. Nestled in the mountains, the property had been scrubbed from every registry, buried beneath layers of shell companies and blind trusts. Inside, the lights were low. Marco and DCamillan flanked the front door, sweeping the perimeter. No movement. Not yet. But Camilla’s mind was anything but still. The data chip burned in her thoughts as fiercely as it had in Riccardo’s hand during the escape. Everything they’d fought for, bled for, lost for—it lived in that sliver of metal and silicon. Echo’s last stand haunted her. Camilla could still hear the faint crack of gunfire echoing through the smoke. Could still feel the way Echo had squeezed her arm and smiled, like it was just another day. Riccardo had been quiet since they fled. Now, as they entered the safehouse and the heavy steel door locked behind t
The mindscape twisted violently. Marble halls cracked like eggshells. Shadows stretched along the walls, forming claws, reaching fingers. The vault chamber shuddered with every breath they took. Camilla stood her ground, feet braced as the ghost of Valentin loomed above them, his digital eyes gleaming with cruel anticipation. “Only one of you can walk away,” he repeated. “This is the code beneath the code. The last safeguard.” Echo flinched, looking to Camilla. “I don’t want to fight you.” “That’s the point,” Camilla replied grimly. “It’s designed to pit us against each other.” The ghost of Valentin began to split—one version stalking toward Camilla, the other toward Echo. The fragments of his voice echoed, overlaid, distorted. “Fight or fail.” “Survive or forget.” “Truth or obedience.” All around them, the vault’s contents shimmered like data—hovering documents, audio files, surveillance clips, accounts spanning continents and decades. A global conspiracy hidden within a st
The jet hummed softly beneath them as it soared toward a safe house just outside Berlin. Camilla sat across from Echo, studying the woman—herself—with an expression caught between calculation and unease. Echo sat rigidly, her hands folded in her lap like a well-trained soldier awaiting orders. She wasn’t afraid anymore. That was what unsettled Camilla most. “She’s adapting too fast,” Camilla whispered to Yuki, who sat beside her with a tablet open, scanning Echo’s vitals. “That’s not just neural patterning. It’s survival instinct.” “She was built for it,” Yuki said without looking up. “She was designed to pass as you in any environment. And from what I’m reading—she’s a near-perfect neurological match.” “Perfect isn’t reassuring.” Riccardo entered the cabin, his gaze sharp as he approached. “We need to start the extraction.” Echo turned her head. “You’re going to try to open the vault in my mind?” “Yes,” Camilla said. “And it’s going to hurt.” Echo didn’t flinch. “Then let’s
The private jet cut through the night sky like a blade, its interior cloaked in silence. Riccardo sat beside Camilla, the flickering glow of a laptop screen painting shadows across his face. Opposite them, Yuki pored over satellite tracking logs while Marco and Alexi double-checked weapon inventories. But Camilla? She hadn’t said a word since boarding. Her thoughts spun like a hurricane. DCamillan. The man who had once bled beside her in the Brazilian jungle… who pulled her from burning wreckage in Naples… was a ghost. A lie wrapped in loyalty. And now, he had vanished—taking with him whatever remnants of Valentin’s plan were still in motion. “He’s in Prague,” Yuki finally said, breaking the silence. “Or at least he was.” She turned the laptop toward them. “Last confirmed visual was two hours ago near the Old Town Square. Then he vanished. Again.” Camilla leaned forward. “If he’s hiding in Prague, it’s not random.” “It’s not,” Marco agreed. “Prague was one of Valentin’s ear
The London sky wept softly, a constant drizzle painting the city in a melancholic haze. In a quiet townhouse tucked between marble façades, the safe house was temporarily calm. But inside, tension thrummed beneath the surface like an untuned wire. Camilla stood at the window, arms crossed as she stared out into the rain. The world had changed—again. Valentin was dead. His facility was destroyed. But the silence that followed victory always felt the most dangerous. The kind of silence predators thrived in. Behind her, Marco finished cleaning a bloodied knife on a rag. “You did good, Camilla.” She turned. “We all did.” “Still.” He studied her with an expression that bordered on wary pride. “You were the reason we got the drive out. If this network can be traced—” “We burn the rest,” she finished for him. Marco nodded. A knock came at the door. Yuki entered with Alexi trailing behind, both of them looking like they’d run a marathon through hell. Alexi’s shoulder was bandaged, b
The flight to London felt different. Not because of the destination, but because of what they were carrying. Dr. Sian Takahara sat shackled in a reinforced seat, silent and unmoved. Her expression remained unreadable, even when turbulence rattled the plane. She was either fearless—or completely detached from consequences. Camilla sat opposite her, studying the woman who may have designed the most insidious takeover the underworld had ever seen. “You don’t strike me as a woman who believes in chaos,” Camilla said. Dr. Takahara smiled faintly. “I believe in calculated order. Chaos is for amateurs.” “Then why Valentin?” Camilla asked. “He’s a warmonger. A manipulator.” “He’s a visionary,” the doctor replied. “You mistake fire for destruction, when it can be used to forge steel.” Camilla shook her head. “No. I know a fire when I see one. And I know what’s burned in its path.” Takahara leaned forward slightly, chains clinking. “You think you’re different, Camilla. That you’re pres