Chapter 866
“Hold on, Parker,” Skye said, gripping his head to keep him still. “We’re almost there.”
They screeched into the driveway of the estate. Julian was waiting at the door, leaning on his cane, pale but alert.
“Get him to the cellar!” Skye yelled, jumping out.
They carried Parker down the stone steps, past racks of vintage wine, into the reinforced panic room Julian had built years ago to protect his servers. The heavy steel door slammed shut. The signal bars on every phone in the room dropped to zero.
Parker went limp. The screaming stopped.
“Is he dead?” Felix asked, pressing two fingers to Parker’s neck.
“Unconscious,” Julian said, examining Parker’s pupils with a penlight. “The signal was cut. The implant went dormant.”
𝖢𝗁𝗂𝗇e𝗌𝘦 𝗇o𝘷𝗲ls 𝘁𝘳𝗮𝗇s𝗹аt𝗲𝗱 о𝘯 𝗴𝖺lոо𝘃е𝘭ѕ.𝗰𝗼𝘮
“Implant?” Skye asked.
Julian parted Parker’s hair behind his ear. A fresh scar — red and angry — ran along the skin. “A subdermal neural link. High-tech. Military grade. It turns him into a walking GPS and data relay.”
“Can we remove it?” Alistair asked.
“Not without a neurosurgeon,” Julian said grimly. “It’s wired into his brain stem. If we tamper with it, it fries his cortex.”
Skye punched the wall. “So we can’t move him. And we can’t let him leave this room.”
“Skye,” Parker whispered. He was awake, his eyes clear for the first time in hours. “Victoria — I remember now. They put her in a separate transport. They said she was insurance, in case I failed.”
“We’ll find her,” Skye promised, squeezing his hand. “But first we have to stop this.”
“We’re besieged,” Lucian said, watching the security monitors on the wall. “Those choppers are landing on the lawn. Mercenaries.”
“How many?” Alistair asked.
“Thirty. Heavily armed.”
“We have five,” Felix said, checking his ammunition. He nodded toward Julian. “And a tactical advisor.”
“We hold the house,” Alistair said, his voice shifting into command mode. “Skye, you stay here with Parker. If they breach the door —”
“I know what to do,” Skye said, taking the gun he offered.
Alistair kissed her hard — a desperate, fierce collision — then pulled back. “I’ll come back for you.”
He left. The lock spun shut behind him.
Skye sat down on the cold floor beside Parker. She looked at the three gems in her open hand. Sapphire. Ruby. Diamond.
“We’re missing the Emerald,” she whispered.
Julian, who had stayed behind to monitor the internal sensors, limped to a wall safe hidden behind a wine rack and keyed in the code. “My grandmother’s brooch,” he said, lifting out the green stone. “She told me to give it to the one who could unite the families.”
He placed it in Skye’s hand.
She arranged all four stones on the table.
Blue. Red. Yellow. Green.
“The Founders used biometric and optical encryption,” Julian said. “Place them in the reader slots.” He gestured to a modified console he had built into the wall.