Chapter 882
“Unless you give me the location of the Mastermind’s primary server. And Victoria.”
Caleb was quiet for a moment, something behind his eyes giving way. “The Patriarch took Victoria,” he whispered. “He took her to the extraction point. But the server — I know where the access point is.”
“Where?”
“The Reservoir,” Caleb said. “The maintenance tunnel under the dam. That’s where the hardline is. It connects directly to Elysium.”
Skye rose from her chair. “Thank you.”
She walked out.
𝗟𝗮𝘵est 𝗰𝗵а𝘱𝗍𝖾𝘳𝘴 𝘰n 𝘨a𝘭𝗇𝘰v𝗲𝘭𝘀.𝗰о𝗆
Alistair was waiting. “Did he give it up?”
“The Reservoir,” Skye said. “I promised him safety for Celeste.”
“We can keep that promise,” Alistair said. “A psychiatric ward is exactly where she belongs.”
The raid on the Reservoir was swift and brutal.
With Caleb’s intel, they bypassed every trap in the tunnel. They caught the Patriarch in his command chair, surrounded by screens casting a pale glow across his ancient, hollowed face. Beside him, bound and gagged, sat Victoria Hayes. She was pale and terrified, but alive.
“Alistair!” Victoria cried out as the team breached the room.
The Patriarch didn’t fight. He simply looked at them with old, hateful eyes — the gaze of a man who had lost a battle but still believed in the war.
“You are only delaying the inevitable,” he wheezed as they dragged him from his chair. “The Algorithm is coming.”
“Let it come,” Alistair said, slicing through Victoria’s bonds. He pulled his aunt into a fierce embrace.
Outside, the police cars moved away with their lights flashing, painting the face of the dam in alternating waves of red and blue. Skye leaned against the hood of the SUV, letting the cold air settle around her.
It was over. The Hayes faction was dismantled. Victoria was safe.
“We did it,” Lucian said, lighting a cigarette. His hand was shaking slightly.
“What about Celeste?” Skye asked.
“I signed the papers,” Lucian exhaled a slow stream of smoke. “Involuntary commitment. She’s gone, Skye. The sister I knew died years ago.”
Skye nodded. She watched Alistair help Victoria into the medic van, his hand steady at his aunt’s back.
“Let’s go home,” Skye said.
But as they drove back to Sea City, she couldn’t shake the Patriarch’s words from her mind.
The Algorithm is coming.
In her pocket, the four gems seemed to hum against her hip — a low, persistent vibration that felt less like warmth and more like a countdown.
And there was still one loose end. Liam. The device in his chest was still ticking.
The weeks following the raid were deceptively peaceful. Skye threw herself back into Oracle, consolidating her gains. She was now the undisputed queen of Sea City’s business world, but she worked with a frantic, restless energy, her team constantly monitoring Liam Kensington’s vitals from a distance.
The silence was broken by a phone call from the psychiatric hospital.
“Miss Sterling,” the doctor said. “Patient Cain is asking for you. She says she has information about Project Chronos.”
Skye froze. Chronos.
She drove to the hospital alone.