Chapter 885
“You’ve destabilized the core!” The Mastermind lunged for the controls, his composed demeanor disintegrating entirely. “Without the key, the cooling system will fail!” His fingers flew across the console, frantically attempting to bypass the safety protocols.
“It doesn’t matter,” he wheezed, his voice rising in pitch. “I can force it. I can still force it —”
Sparks erupted from the server banks below. The blue light shifted to an angry, pulsing red. The island shuddered beneath their feet, a deep groan rising from somewhere far below the surface.
“Run!” Skye yelled.
They sprinted back to the beach. The ground was splitting open beneath their feet, trees swallowed by fissures of red light as the cooling systems failed and the reactor beneath the island went critical.
They reached the zodiac. Felix threw the engine into full throttle.
They tore across the water just as the mansion exploded. A dome of energy expanded outward, consuming the island in a single, silent instant.
𝖳𝘩e 𝗯𝖾s𝘵 r𝗲𝘷𝗂е𝘄𝗌 𝘰𝘯 𝗴aln𝗈𝘃𝘦𝘭s.cо𝘮
Then it was gone.
The ocean was empty. Calm. As though Elysium Island had never existed at all.
“Is it over?” Skye asked, clutching her stomach.
“He’s dead,” Alistair said. “The machine is gone. The signal to Liam’s implant should be severed.”
“Felix,” Skye keyed her comms. “Check Liam’s status.”
A tense silence followed. Then Felix’s voice came through, clear and steady. “His vitals are stable. But Skye — the device is still in his head. It’s inert now, the remote signal is dead, but it’s a foreign object sitting against his brain stem. He needs surgery immediately to remove it before it causes an infection or a stroke.”
“We’ll get him the best surgeons in the world,” Skye said, leaning back into Alistair’s chest. “We have the money. We have the time.”
She winced, cradling her bandaged hand. “But the Sapphire — I destroyed it. The data is gone forever.”
Two days later, in a private clinic in Singapore, Skye woke to white walls and clean light. Her hand was bandaged where she had smashed the stone against the console.
Alistair was there. He held up a small glass jar. Inside was dust — fine, blue dust.
“We swept the console,” he said. “Nothing left but powder. You destroyed the key to the ultimate surveillance state.”
“It worked,” Skye smiled weakly.
“It did,” Alistair said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It’s over, Skye. No more loops. No more predictions. This is our life — the only one we get.”
“Good,” Skye said. “I intend to make it count.”
Her phone buzzed on the bedside table.
It was a text from Liam.
I heard about the island. You crazy woman. The doctors say they can operate tomorrow. Dinner when I’m out? I have something to tell you. And thank you. For my life.
Skye looked at Alistair. “Liam wants dinner.”
Alistair sighed. “Fine. But I’m ordering for him. Poison sounds good.”
Skye laughed — a real laugh, light and completely free.
The restaurant in Sea City occupied the entire top floor of Oracle Tower. The city lights spread out below them like a carpet of diamonds, vast and brilliant against the dark.