Chapter 793
The room smelled of rust and impending death. Alistair held his ground, rifle raised, aiming directly at Caleb’s center of mass.
“Don’t move,” Alistair commanded. “Where is Ethan?”
Caleb laughed, a dry, scratching sound. He flipped the karambits in his hands, the movements fluid and hypnotic. “Ethan is gone. He left me to clean up the trash.”
“You’re working for him?” Alistair asked, his finger tightening on the trigger. “You hated the Vances.”
“It’s not about hate, Thorne. It’s about leverage,” Caleb spat. “Ethan raided the Cain Pharmaceuticals secure vault during the chaos. He didn’t just take files. He stole the Synthesis Core.”
𝗥𝖾𝗮d f𝗿𝗼𝗆 𝗒𝗼𝗎r рho𝗻e on 𝗴𝘢𝗅𝗇о𝘷𝗲𝗹𝗌.c𝘰m
“The prototype?” Alistair realized, his blood running cold. “That machine is the only thing capable of stabilizing the K-7 serum. It can’t be replicated.”
“Without that core, Celeste can’t produce her treatments.” Caleb’s eyes were wild. “Ethan promised to return the machine if I mount your head on his wall.”
Alistair pulled the trigger.
Click.
He cursed. The breach-charge explosion must have damaged the receiver, or the magazine hadn’t seated right in the scuffle upstairs. He racked the slide.
Jammed.
Caleb saw the hesitation and lunged.
He was fast, unnaturally fast. The curved blades slashed through the air where Alistair’s throat had been a fraction of a second before. Alistair dropped the useless rifle and drew his tactical combat knife, sidestepping the strike. The wind of the blade cooled the sweat on his neck.
He blocked the follow-up strike with his own knife, metal screeching against metal, sparks spitting in the dim light.
Above them, Liam groaned. His eyes fluttered open, hazy with pain. He looked down, his vision swimming.
“Alistair…” Liam croaked. “Trap… floor…”
Alistair didn’t look up; he couldn’t. Caleb was a whirlwind of steel. A slash caught Alistair’s forearm, slicing through the tactical fabric and drawing blood. Alistair grunted, countering with a heavy kick to Caleb’s knee, forcing the assassin back.
“He’s awake,” Caleb sneered, glancing up at Liam. “Good. He can watch you bleed.”
At Oracle HQ, I was barking orders. “Parker, I don’t care about the encryption! Bypass the safety protocols on the blast door. Blow the hinges if you have to!”
“I need two minutes!” Parker yelled back, his fingers flying across the keys. “The override code is alphanumeric. I’m brute-forcing it!”
“We don’t have two minutes.” I snatched up my car keys. “Keep trying. I’m going to the site.”
“Skye, you can’t!”
I was already out the door.
In the bunker, the fight was brutal and intimate. Alistair was stronger, but Caleb fought with the desperation of a man trying to save his sister.
“You’re slowing down, Thorne,” Caleb taunted, dancing out of range. “Age? Or did that pretty wife of yours make you soft?”
“She gave me something to live for,” Alistair growled.
He feinted high, then dropped low, sweeping Caleb’s legs.
Caleb hit the concrete hard. Alistair was on him instantly, pinning his knife hand. But Caleb smiled, a bloodied, triumphant grin. With his free hand, he slapped a remote control strapped to his thigh.
Click.
The mechanical winch holding Liam engaged. But instead of lowering him, the chain snapped.
Liam fell.
Directly below him, the floor plates retracted, revealing a pit lined with jagged, rusted rebar spikes.