Chapter 757
Chapter 757:
Skye stood there, frozen. Her world, which had just started to make sense, was tilting on its axis again.
Her father. Alive?
“Skye,” Alistair said gently. “We have to go. They could be tracking us p>
Skye didn’t move. She stared at the black screen.
“He’s the bait,” she whispered. “But if he’s alive… Arthur’s claim to the company was fraudulent from the start. And mine… mine is absolute p>
“Unless she kills him,” Alistair noted.
“She won’t kill him yet,” Skye said, turning to Alistair, her eyes burning with a cold, terrifying light. “She needs the algorithm. But she made a mistake p>
“Which is p>
“She showed me the equipment,” Skye said. “That heart monitor? It’s a Sterling Medical prototype. Discontinued in 2015. There’s only one place that still uses that specific model p>
“Where p>
“The Old Textile Factory in the Industrial District. It was a Sterling front for off-book research p>
“We’ll find him,” Alistair promised.
“No,” Skye said. She pulled her gun from her holster and checked the chamber. “We won’t just find him. We’re going to burn her facility to the ground p>
The return to the city was silent. Skye sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window but seeing only that grainy image—the hand with the missing finger. It fit. It fit perfectly with Arthur’s cowardice and Celeste’s greed.
“We need Lucian,” Skye said suddenly.
“Why?” Alistair grunted, taking a sharp turn.
“Because this facility… if it’s keeping a man alive for ten years in secret, it’s not a hospital. It’s a black site. And nobody knows black sites like Lucian p>
“He’s moved,” Alistair said, checking his mirrors. “After the wedding bombing, the Vance Estate was too hot. Too many Feds, too many reporters. Lucian went underground to a safe house in District 4. It’s a derelict apartment building he rigged years ago p>
I𝘧 𝘺оu 𝘴𝗲e th𝘪𝘴 ոо𝗏𝘦𝗅 o𝗇 аnу 𝗌𝘪𝗍e 𝗼𝘵𝗵𝘦𝗿 𝗍𝘩a𝗇 b𝖾𝗅ո𝘰𝗏e𝘭s.𝘤𝘰m 𝗶𝗍 і𝘴 a 𝖼o𝗽𝘺
“Take us there,” Skye ordered.
They drove to the crumbling edges of the city, where the neon lights of the center faded into the sodium orange of the slums. They parked three blocks away and walked to the building. It looked abandoned, with boarded-up windows and graffiti covering every inch of brick.
They found Lucian on the roof, smoking a cigarette, looking out over the city skyline. He looked bored, blending into the shadows like he was part of the architecture.
“You’re late,” Lucian said without turning. “I expected you an hour ago p>
“We had a detour,” Alistair said.
Skye walked up to him. “Celeste has my father. Richard p>
Lucian turned slowly. He raised an eyebrow. “The dead one? Or the one in jail p>
“The dead one,” Skye said.
She explained the video. The finger. The threat.