2024-09-24 19:25:27
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 664
The secondary cooling tower was a brutalist spike of concrete and rusted iron, leaning out over the cliffside, isolated from the main facility. It had been designed to vent the Heart’s thermal energy, but as Tedmond, Lottie, and Marek sprinted across the connecting gantry, it was clear the tower was being repurposed for something far darker.The air grew colder, heavy with salt spray from the waves crashing hundreds of feet below.“Albert,” Tedmond barked into his comms. “Status on the tower’s structure.”“Not good, Master Tedmond,” Albert replied, his voice tight. “The Warden has initiated a Scrub protocol. He isn’t just venting gas… he’s triggered the explosive bolts in the foundation. The tower is standing on prayers and gravity alone. You have approximately seven minutes before it shears off the cliff.”“Seven minutes,” Tedmond repeated. He slammed a hand against the heavy blast doors at the base of the tower. It was locked.“Marek,” he commanded.Marek didn’t hesitate. He step
CHAPTER 663
The dates in the logbook didn’t merely align with history; they defied it.Tedmond’s thumb traced the ink on the most recent page. His breath hitched, the cold air of the cockpit suddenly feeling thin. The names scrawled in the Authorized Visitor column weren’t Syndicate officials. They weren’t names he recognized from the Board.The entries were coded, but the handwriting in the margin made his blood run cold. It was the elegant, sharp script of the woman who had taught him how to hold a pen.“Tedmond?” Lottie froze when she saw the color drain from his face. “What is it? Did you find the Board’s signatures?”“No,” Tedmond whispered, his voice sounding as though it came from a great distance. “Look at these signatures, Lottie. They aren’t people coming in to see her.”He turned the book toward her. The signatures under the Exit column for the last five years were all the same: M.W.“Is that the name, Mill Washington?” Lottie breathed, her eyes widening as she scanned the meticulo
CHAPTER 662
Marek’s hand shot out as Tedmond reached the top of the shaft, swinging onto solid floor just as the lift car snapped its final tether and plummeted into the abyss.Tedmond hit hard, coughing up the sweet taste of gas. He ripped off his mask, gasping for the smoke-filled air of the upper levels.“The transport,” Tedmond wheezed, looking at Marek. “Where is it?”“The hangar,” Marek grunted, helping him up. “But they’ve already cleared the roof. If we want to catch them, we have to take the Warden’s personal interceptor.”Tedmond stood, legs shaky but gaze as sharp as a bayonet. He glanced at the book in his hand, then toward the path to the hangar.“Then we take it,” he said. “And we shoot down anything that gets in our way.”The hangar was a cavernous expanse of polished chrome and reinforced steel, echoing with the distant groans of the facility’s dying infrastructure. In the center sat the Warden’s personal interceptor, a sleek, predatory craft that looked more like a shard of obsi
CHAPTER 661
Tedmond’s pulse hammered, but his face remained a mask of stone as the elevator plummeted.He felt the pressure shift in his ears, a stark reminder of how deep the Heart truly sat.As the floor surged beneath his boots, his mind ran through tactical options.‘If the Warden is suffocating her, he loses his Anchor.’The thought rose automatically, the first line of defense. Why kill the one thing keeping his facility stable?But as the descent accelerated, the counter-argument hit like a punch to the gut.The Warden wasn’t stabilizing the facility anymore. He was erasing evidence.If a Washington heir had breached the inner sanctum, the Gilded Cage was compromised. To the Syndicate, a dead legend was safer than a liberated one.“He’s liquidating the asset,” Tedmond hissed, voice echoing in the metallic shaft. “He’d rather lose the Anchor than let me have her.”Lottie had pointed to the reinforced steel door with its golden seal just before the doors closed.“The private lift. But Tedm
CHAPTER 660
The woman’s grin faltered. She had not been expecting that response from him.She looked into the raw, unyielding conviction in his eyes and realized she wasn’t negotiating with a boy playing hero; she was negotiating with the heir to a dynasty that didn’t know how to lose.“The sub-basement,” she whispered, her voice finally losing its edge. “Level Seven. It’s not on the maps. It’s a pressurized chamber behind the main server stack. The Warden calls it the Heart. She might be there, Tedmond. But the only way in is through the Warden’s private lift.”She paused, her amber eyes searching the silver mask as if trying to see the flesh beneath it.“I wasn’t sure you would actually find her here. It’s been years since I last saw Mill. Back then, I didn’t know who she really was. In this place, people are just numbers or shadows. No one knew what she truly looked like… she was kept in the deep dark.”She leaned closer to the glass, her expression turning uncharacteristically soft.“But now
CHAPTER 659
She stood and paced the small space of the sphere like a caged leopard.“You talk about wanting things as if desire is a currency,” she said. “But in this facility, we don’t deal in wants. We deal in trades. This is a negotiating room, whether you like it or not. If I give you Luna, I’m signing my own death warrant with the Warden. I need to know that whatever you offer in return is worth the risk of a slow execution.”Tedmond’s eyes narrowed. Above them, he could hear the faint sounds of Marek engaging the first wave of Enforcers, the muffled thuds of combat providing a grim rhythm to the conversation.“What would you like in exchange?” Tedmond asked, his voice dripping with icy patience.The woman laughed, sharp and delighted, and walked straight up to the glass, her amber eyes level with his.“It’s not every day you see a powerful family like yours groveling in the dirt,” she mused. “But don’t mistake your status for leverage here.”She paused, her lips curling into a smirk. “Ma
You may also like
The Heir's Revenge
Twine Twin79.3K viewsThe Ultimate Commander Cassian
AFM31157.2K viewsThe Legendary Conglomerate
Lord MOH121.2K viewsThe Billionaire's Revenge
Hare Ra82.1K viewsTHE RETURN OF THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR
Aura Lyr1.2K viewsEx-Convict To Mysterious Power
Tina Maxxy7.7K viewsBecoming Tyler Kramer: The Hidden Billionaire Boss’ Revenge
Yin U.1.0K viewsRISE OF THE DRAGON KING!
Alendra Danuarta375 views