Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

The footsteps stopped outside the door, and Maya stopped breathing with them.Julian was still close enough for her to feel the heat of his body. One forearm was braced against the wall beside her head, while the pistol in his other hand remained trained on the doorway. A few feet away, Marcus stayed crouched in the darkness.Nobody spoke.An emergency light buzzed somewhere overhead. A loose piece of metal ticked against the floor, each faint sound seeming louder in the darkness. Maya could hear her own heartbeat pounding against her ribs, and she had the unsettling thought that whoever stood outside must be able to hear it too.The doorknob turned.It stopped.Then turned again.Julian raised his pistol.The door swung open.A tall man dressed in black stepped inside, most of his face hidden behind a dark mask. He had barely crossed the threshold when Julian fired.The muzzle flash illuminated the room.Maya saw the stranger jerk backward before disappearing into the hallway.“Stay

The voice came from the stairwell above them, and Maya still couldn't see the man it belonged to.What unsettled her wasn't the voice itself. It was the certainty behind it. He hadn't called out to find them. He already knew exactly where they were.Julian stepped in front of her, pistol raised.“Stay back.”Maya caught his sleeve. “Is that Hale?”Julian didn't answer.Marcus did.“Victor.”A shadow stretched across the landing.Then the man himself appeared.Victor Hale descended the stairs without hurrying, one hand hanging loosely at his side. He wasn't wearing a mask like the men who had attacked them earlier. His dark coat was buttoned neatly over a pale shirt, and his silvering hair was combed back despite the chaos surrounding them.Maya had seen that face before.It was an ordinary face, the kind that could disappear into a crowd without attracting attention.That was what frightened her.Victor stopped several steps above them and looked directly at Julian.“Julian.”“You sho

Julian's voice was pitched so low that Maya nearly lost it beneath the gunfire rattling somewhere deeper in the building.“It wasn't Victor.”She turned to stare at him. His usual composure had cracked, and his eyes kept returning to the service door as though he expected it to come off its hinges at any moment.“What did you see?”“Not Victor.”“You said that already.”“The man who fired.” He finally looked at her. “It wasn't him.”Her stomach tightened. “Then who?”“I don't know.”That unsettled her more than the shooting did. Julian Voss always knew something. Even when he refused to share it, he carried himself like a man who had already calculated every possible way a situation could go wrong.“You always know,” she said. “It's the one thing you're good at.”“Not this time.”Another shot cracked through the walls, close enough to make her flinch toward the door.Julian's hand closed around her wrist and pulled her back. His grip was firm without hurting her.“Stay behind me.”“I

IF THEY FIND DANIEL, YOUR MOTHER DIES.Maya read the message twice.The words didn't change.Her fingers tightened around the phone until the cracked edge dug into her palm.“My mother,” she whispered.Julian watched her face. “What does it say?”She turned the screen toward him.He read it once, and his expression hardened. Marcus leaned closer.“They're threatening Evelyn?”“They're telling us she's still alive,” Maya said.“Not necessarily.” Julian shook his head. “They want you to believe she is because they need you to find Daniel.”Maya stared at him. “You think they're lying?”“I think we don't know.”She pressed the phone against his chest. “Then we find out.”Julian caught it before it slipped from her hand. “Maya, listen to me.”“No.” She stepped back, her voice shaking despite her effort to control it. “I've spent my entire life listening to people tell me what I'm not allowed to know. My father died. My mother disappeared. Daniel didn't even exist in my life until recently

The archive went black.For half a second, Maya heard nothing but the pounding of her own blood. Her hand moved instinctively through the darkness until her fingers found Julian's.His grip closed around hers.“Stay where you are.”His voice was low, controlled, but she could feel the tension in his hand.Somewhere across the archive, Marcus swore. Metal scraped against metal.Then a gunshot cracked through the darkness.Julian pulled Maya down.A second bullet struck the cabinet beside them, spraying rust and dust across her hair and shoulders.“Maya, stay down.”“My father.”“He's here.”A voice came from somewhere ahead of them.“I'm here, Maya. Don't move.”Relief hit her so quickly that her chest tightened.Then Adrian spoke.“Everyone stays where they are.”His calmness frightened her more than the gunfire.Julian crouched beside her. “Are you hurt?”“No.”“Stay behind me.”“You keep saying that.”“Because you keep putting yourself in danger.”She almost smiled.Almost.Then ano