Chapter 843
He leaned in close, the shears hovering inches from Thomas’s remaining good eye. “I’m asking about the logistics. Who authorized the flight plan for the Blue Phoenix? Who cleared the airspace for a kidnapping in broad daylight?”
Thomas flinched, pressing his head back against the wood. His breathing hitched — a desperate, rattling sound. “It was her,” he gasped. “The Liquidator.”
“Name,” Lucian demanded.
“Celeste…” Thomas sobbed. “Celeste Cain.”
“Celeste Cain is a disgraced scientist,” Lucian said, his voice deceptively gentle. “She lost her company. She lost her reputation. How does a failure orchestrate a tactical extraction?”
с𝗁𝗂nе𝘀𝗲 𝘯о𝘷𝘦𝗅s 𝘁𝗿а𝘯ѕl𝖺t𝗲𝘥 𝗼𝗻 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝗻𝗈𝗏𝖾𝘭𝘀.с𝗼𝗺
“She… she reinvented herself,” Thomas stammered, tears mixing with the blood on his face. “After Skye destroyed her stock, the Syndicate picked her up. They needed someone who understood the corporate structure but had no morals left to lose. She’s not a CEO anymore. She’s a Cleaner. A Liquidator. She strips assets and erases problems.”
“And who is she to you?” Lucian asked.
“She’s… she’s my handler,” Thomas sobbed. “She controls the transport routes! She’s selling off the Tate assets to fund the new operation in Zurich, but she’s using the Nevada Black Site as the holding pen!”
“Nevada,” Lucian repeated, testing the word. “So the plane is heading to the Ghost Site.”
“Yes! Yes!” Thomas cried. “It’s a refueling and holding station. The trap was making Parker believe he was flying directly to Zurich so he wouldn’t fight the flight path until it was too late. But the ultimate destination — for the money, for the Mastermind — that’s Zurich. Parker and the girl will be rotting in the desert while Celeste cashes out in Switzerland!”
Lucian straightened up and dropped the shears back onto the tray with a loud clatter. “You were very helpful.”
“So… you’ll let me go?” Thomas asked, hope making his voice tremble.
Lucian looked at him with profound indifference. “I’m not the one holding the leash anymore, Thomas. You’re a loose end. And Celeste Cain is known for her tidiness.”
He turned and walked away, ignoring the man’s renewed pleas. As he climbed the stairs, he pulled out his phone.
“Status,” Skye’s voice answered instantly.
“Thomas gave up the architecture,” Lucian said, emerging back into the morning light where Skye and Alistair waited by the SUV. “Celeste Cain. She’s the Liquidator. She routed the plane to a black site in Nevada, but she’s managing the financial backend from here to fund the Mastermind in Zurich.”
“Where is she?” Skye demanded.
“She’s moving on Kensington Global,” Lucian said. “She’s using the chaos to gut the company while we’re distracted chasing the plane. She thinks we’ll fly blindly into the desert and get shot down. But she has the landing codes and the override keys for the Nevada prison facility on her person.”
“Meet me at the Vance Estate,” Skye said, the sound of a car engine roaring in the background. “We’re going to hunt.”
Skye hung up and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat of the Aston Martin. She wasn’t in a luxury jet sipping water. She was driving through the rain-slicked streets of Sea City, her knuckles white on the steering wheel.