Chapter 893
Parker winced as she tightened the knot. He didn’t look away from her face.
“Noted,” he said.
Skye climbed into the passenger seat. “Felix, drive. Get us to the safe house.”
As the SUV pulled away, tires biting the wet asphalt, Skye looked back at the shipyard. For a single second, she thought she saw a figure standing by the gate — a man in a dark suit, watching them go. He raised one hand in a silent salute, then turned and dissolved into the night.
“He’s alive,” Skye said softly. “And he’s fighting.”
“They mentioned a bypass,” Parker said, his voice thin. “The mercenaries — they wanted the biometric bypass for the Kensington Vault. They knew Liam had changed the protocols.”
“What’s in the vault?” Alistair asked, glancing at Parker in the rearview mirror.
“I don’t know,” Parker whispered, his eyes closing. “But whatever it is, the Architect’s ghosts are willing to kill for it.”
The atmosphere in the Oracle command center was thick enough to choke on. Rain lashed against the reinforced windows, blurring the lights of Sea City into streaks of neon and grey.
Parker sat on a medical gurney with his leg bandaged, looking pale and furious. “He warned us,” Parker hissed, waving his phone. “Liam sent a message — ‘Chaos is coming.’ And ten minutes later, the alarms tripped.”
𝗨p𝗱𝘢𝘁𝘦𝘀 𝘦𝗏𝗲r𝘆 𝗐𝗲𝖾𝘬 𝗼ո 𝗀a𝗹n𝗈𝘷𝖾lѕ.сo𝗆
On the main screen, a live feed from the Future Tech Park construction site — a joint venture between Oracle and Kensington, and the symbol of Skye’s rebirth — showed absolute bedlam. Men in masks were smashing equipment. A bulldozer was on fire. It wasn’t vandalism — it was a systematic dismantling.
“It’s a distraction,” Alistair said, his voice calm but his eyes hard. “They want to draw us out of the fortress.”
“I don’t care,” Lucian Graves rose from his seat, buttoning his suit jacket with deliberate precision. He looked impeccable, as always, but there was a dangerous edge to his movements. “That site represents billions in investment. If investors see us losing control of our own territory, the stock plummets. I have to go.”
“I’m going with you,” Skye stood.
“No.” Lucian turned on her, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You are the target, Skye. You stay here where it’s safe. I’ll take Marcus and the B-Team. We’ll disperse the riot and lock it down.”
Skye hesitated, looking at Alistair.
“Let him handle it,” Alistair said. “Lucian knows how to manage a crowd.”
Skye sat back down, frustration burning in her chest. “Fine. Keep an open line.”
The construction site was a nightmare of mud and fire. The rain turned the dirt into a sucking quagmire.
Lucian stepped out of the armored SUV, Marcus flanking him with an assault rifle.
“Disperse!” Lucian’s voice rang out through the megaphone. “This is private property. Security forces are authorized to use non-lethal force.”
The rioters didn’t scatter. They turned. And in the flickering light of the burning bulldozer, Lucian saw that they weren’t random thugs. They moved with coordination, with purpose.
They were herding him.