All Chapters of the obsidian proxy: Chapter 51 - Chapter 56

The Emergency Board Meeting room was not designed for violence, but for the silent, transactional murder of ambition. Yet, the air instantly became electrified with predatory intent. Julian’s final, technical pronouncement—the 400-millisecond latency exposure—had evaporated Anya Petrova's carefully constructed professional life.For one second, Anya was the exposed Handler, radiating absolute, paralyzing fury. She didn't deny the accusation. She simply stood, overturning the heavy mahogany chair with a deafening crash that silenced the terrified Board members. Her elegant business suit was instantly transformed into a lethal cage, designed for close-quarters combat.“You chose sentiment, Julian,” Anya hissed, her voice losing its fabricated, polished tone and dropping into the cold, clinical cadence of a Syndicate operative. “You should have died in the dark. Now you will die here, publicly, for choosing the whore who compromised herself for you.”Anya did not approach Julian. Her pri

A thousand miles away, deep beneath the churning surface of the Pacific, the atmosphere aboard the repurposed DSRV (Deep-Sea Research Vessel) was tense and claustrophobic. Elias, operating on minimal sleep and rationed supplies, sat in the glow of a few small monitors, monitoring the global aftermath of her Digital Diversion (the Signal Flare).The twenty-minute window she had given Julian had worked. The Hyperbolic Geolocation Array had indeed been blinded, allowing Julian and Kian to successfully escape the Observatory.However, the cost was now manifesting. The Signal Flare—the massive, anomalous burst of quantum error that had seized The Syndicate’s financial algorithms—had been too loud, too chaotic, and too disruptive to ignore.“We have company, Elias,” Marcus’s voice crackled across the DSRV’s secured internal comms, routed from his own deep-cover location hundreds of miles away. Marcus, using his vast network of counter-intelligence ghosts, was providing long-range surveillan

Julian stared at the operational file for Jonas DeWitt. The Commander was a ghost, a tactical mastermind who had never been seen in the field. He only emerged to supervise the termination of a terminally compromised asset—like Elias.The Sentinel data also provided a critical, strategic insight: The Syndicate’s only method for verifying the destruction of the Sentinel Master Key was a direct, physical exchange with Commander DeWitt. The Director trusted no one else with the final, cryptographic confirmation.Julian realized the terrifying brilliance of Protocol 7. It wasn't just designed to capture Elias; it was designed to force Julian into a position where he would have to try and exchange the Master Key for Elias’s life.Julian called Kian and Lena into his office, presenting the data. “DeWitt is the key. Capture him, and Protocol 7 is neutered. The Director loses his operational arm and his last chance to verify the destruction of the Master Key. Elias is safe.”“DeWitt won’t surf