Chapter 958
“In and out,” Victoria said, stepping out of the infirmary, her expression weary but composed. “But she keeps asking for Dominic’s son. She says she has something for him.”
Alistair straightened his tie. “Let me talk to her.”
They walked into the infirmary. Martha Carter was sitting up, sipping tea from a delicate cup. She looked frail — as though a strong wind might carry her away. When she saw Alistair, she froze, her teacup trembling.
“Dominic?” she whispered. Then her eyes cleared, a flicker of recognition surfacing. “No. You’re the boy. Alistair.”
“That’s right,” Alistair said gently. “Mrs. Carter, you said you had something for me?”
Martha’s hands moved to her neck, fumbling with a cheap plastic locket on a tarnished chain. “He said to keep it safe. Until the time was right.”
She unclasped the locket. It didn’t open like ordinary jewelry — it split down the middle, revealing a tiny metallic chip embedded in the casing.
“A micro-SD card,” Parker breathed. “She’s been wearing the ledger around her neck for twenty years.”
“Victor never looked,” Martha whispered. “He only cared about things that sparkled. He never looked at cheap plastic.”
“This is it,” Skye said, lifting the locket carefully. “Project Pandora. The proof they had been searching for.”
𝖥𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅 𝖯𝖣𝖥𝗌 𝗈𝗇 𝗀𝖺𝗅𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗌.𝖼𝗈𝗆
The safe house alarms exploded to life. Red lights pulsed against the concrete walls.
“Perimeter breach!” Liam shouted, drawing his weapon. “South entrance!”
“How did they find us?” Felix asked, his voice tight with panic.
“They didn’t track the car,” Alistair said, scanning the monitors. “They tracked the medical transponder in Martha’s pacemaker. We missed it.”
“Victor,” Skye hissed.
“We move now,” Liam commanded. “Felix, Parker — get Martha to the van. Alistair, Skye, with me. We hold the hallway.”
Gunfire erupted from beyond the steel doors, the metallic clatter echoing through the building.
“Go!” Liam roared.
They scrambled toward the rear exit as the front doors were blown off their hinges with a deafening explosion. Smoke flooded the corridor, thick and acrid.
Skye dragged Felix toward the armored van in the rear bay. Parker was already loading his mother inside, moving swiftly despite his exhaustion.
“They’re flanking us!” Alistair shouted, firing two shots into the smoke.
“Drive!” Skye yelled, throwing herself into the passenger seat as Liam vaulted behind the wheel.
The van tore out of the warehouse, smashing through a wooden barricade. Bullets pinged off the armored plating like hail.
“Where are we going?” Parker yelled from the back.
“The Vance Estate,” Skye said, her voice steady despite the chaos. “It’s a fortress. And it has the only server secure enough to decrypt this drive without alerting the Mastermind.”
“If we make it,” Liam muttered, swerving hard to avoid an oncoming black SUV.
“We’ll make it,” Skye said, gripping the dashboard, her gaze fixed forward. “We have the key. Now we just need to unlock the door.”
The drive to the Vance Estate was a blur of evasive maneuvers and high-speed tension. When they finally crashed through the imposing gates of Julian’s ancestral home, the sun was beginning to set, bruising the sky in hues of purple and red.
.
.