Chapter 112 Chapter 112

Chapter 112 Chapter 112
Jax dropped the folder on the table. It landed with a slap that brought everyone attention.

"Singapore," he said. "Phoenix's main manufacturing plant. That's where they make the therapy. That's where we hit them."

Kenji stood up from the floor. Leo stirred but didn't wake. Kenji stepped over him carefully.

Elena pulled out a chair and sat down. She rested her hands on her laps and clapped them together.

"What exactly is the therapy?" Maja asked from the corner. She was awake now. Sitting up on her blanket. Her voice was small.

Everyone turned to look at her.

Elena took a breath. "It's a so-called treatment Phoenix sells to the public. They say it extends your life. Makes you healthier. Maybe stronger."

Maja frowned. "Like the tanks?"

"No. No. It's not." Elena shook her head. "The tanks made clones yea. The therapy is for regular people. People who don't know what Phoenix really is."

Leo sat up too and rubbed his eyes. "What does it actually do?"

Elena starred fiercely at him. Then at Jax. Then back at Leo.

"It puts a tracker in your body. A tiny one. You can't feel it. It reports your location, your health. Everything."

Leo's face went pale. "Like the tracker they put on Kenji?"

She snapped her figures slowly and smiled. "Yes. But worse."

Kenji knelt down next to Leo and put his hand on the kid's shoulder. He rubbed his shoulders slowly.
"The therapy also changes your brain," Kenji said. His voice was low. "It makes you easier to control. It makes you…want to obey. And you don't even know it's happening."

Leo looked at the floor. His eyes opened widely. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Then he looked back at Kenji. "Why would anyone take it?"

Jax answered. "Because they don't know. They're told it's medicine. They're told it will help them live longer. They trust the doctors. The clinics. The commercials on TV."

Maja stood up and walked to the table. Her bare feet were quiet on the floor. "How many people have taken it?"

Elena looked at her. "Millions. All over the world."

Maja's face didn't change. But her hands curled into fists.

"That's why we're going to Singapore," Jax said. "To stop them from making more."

Caiman walked over from the door. His rifle was slung over his shoulder.

"They're not just making more," he said. "They're stockpiling. I believe it's enough to treat half the planet."

Rina looked up at them surprised. "Where did you hear that?"

Caiman pointed at the folder. "It's in the file. Elena found it."

Elena nodded in agreement. "They have warehouses full of the therapy. Enough to distribute to every major city. They're waiting for the right moment."

Kenji stood up. "By right moment, you mean…?"

"When they're ready to flip the switch." Elena pulled out her phone and opened a file. She turned the screen toward them. "The therapy doesn't just track and condition. It has a kill command. A way to activate all the trackers at once. Turn every person who took it into... something else."

Leo looked at Kenji. "Something else?"

Kenji's jaw tightened. "A weapon. A soldier. Whatever Phoenix wants them to be."

Leo was quiet for a long moment. Then he said "My dad. Did he take it?"

Jax looked at him. "We don't know."

Leo nodded. His face was calm. But his hands were shaking.

"We need to stop them," he said.

Jax walked over to him and rubbed his head. "We will."

Leo looked at him with those innocent eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise."

Elena stood up and pushed her chair back.

"Then let's get to work."

They spent the next hour going over the map. Elena showed them the loading dock, the stairwell, and the server room.

"The manufacturing floor is here," she said. "That's where they mix the chemicals, load the vials and package them for shipping."

Kenji leaned in closer. "How many workers?"

"Uhm. It's mostly automated. Maybe twenty technicians. Thirty guards."

Caiman shook his head. "That's a lot for five people."

"Relax. We're not fighting them all. We're sneaking past them."

Mira spoke from the corner. "And if we get caught?"

Elena looked at her. "Then, we will have to fight. But let's hope we don't get caught."

Jax stood up with hands in his pocket. "We leave in an hour. Everyone, get ready." He looked around. “Why don't I see Elias anywhere?”

“He is under the weather, Kael said.”

“Okay. Let him rest.”

They moved in the dark as always using a boat.

Caiman was at the wheel. His eyes fixed on the water.

Mira sat in the back with her arms crossed. Lena was in the shadows near the stern. Her knife was in her hand. She was turning it over and over.

Jax sat next to kenji. Their shoulders touched.

"You think they know we're coming?" Kenji asked.

Jax looked at the water. Black and endless.

"They always know we will show somehow."

"Then why are we going?"

"Because they don't know when."

The boat kept moving.

The sun came up over Singapore.

The city was bright and loud and crowded. Skyscrapers seemed to be everywhere. People everywhere. The street were a little wet from the morning dew.

Caiman docked the boat at a small marina. An old man in a straw hat helped watch it. He didn't ask questions.

Elena led the way through the streets. She walked fast. Her eyes moved from corner to corner.

The facility was on the outskirts. A gray building with no windows. A fence with razor wire with guards at the gate and cameras on every corner.

Jax stopped behind a food cart and peeked around the edge.

"See the trucks?"

Elena nodded. "The shipment comes in at noon. We have four hours."

Kenji looked at the fence. "We need to get closer."

"We need to not get caught." She said as she raised her eyes and her eyebrows at Jax.

Jax turned to the group. "Elena, Kenji, Caiman, and me. The rest wait here."

Rina stepped forward. Her face was flushed. "We're not staying behind."

"You're the backup. If we don't come out, you come in."

Rina's jaw tightened. "Four hours."

"Four hours."

The fence was higher than it looked.

Jax walked along it, counting the seconds between patrols. Three minutes. Then two. Uneven. They were trying to be unpredictable.

Kenji pointed at a drainpipe near the corner. "That leads to the roof."

Jax looked at it. "It'll hold?"

Kenji grabbed the pipe and put his weight on it. The metal groaned.

"It'll hold."

Then they climbed.

Caiman went first. The pipe groaned louder. He reached the roof and pulled himself over.

Kenji went next. Then Elena. Then Jax.

The roof was flat and covered in gravel–Loose stones that crunched under every step.

Elena pointed at a door. "Service entrance."

They moved quickly. The door was unlocked.

Jax held up his fist. They stopped.

"This is a trap," Kenji whispered.

"I know."

"Then why are we going in?"

Jax turned to him. "Because it's the only way."

He opened the door.

The stairwell was dark.

Their boots echoed on the concrete steps. Jax counted the floors. Three. Two. One.

Sub-level one.

Sub-level two.

Sub-level three.

The door at the bottom was steel with a keypad on the wall. A red light was blinking.

Elena stepped forward and brought out a device from her pocket. She connected it to the keypad.

The light turned green.

The door clicked open.

The server room was huge.

Row after row of black towers.
Lights blinking and the hum of machines.

Elena walked to the main console and plugged a cable into her tablet.

"I need ten minutes."

Jax looked at the door. "You have five."

"Then I'll do it in five."

Kenji stood by the door. His knife was positioned well in his hand.

Caiman stood next to him with his rifle up.

Jax stood in the middle of the room. Gun in his hand and eyes on the door.

Then , the door opened.

It was the guards. They had their rifles up.

Kenji quickly slit the first guard's throat before the man could do jack.

Jax shot the second one narrowly.

Caiman gunned the third guard

The fourth guard was about to fire his rifle when Kenji threw his knife. It hit the man in the back and he fell. I guess he wasn't fast enough.

The fifth and sixth guards raised their guns.

Elena fired her tablet. A blast of sound came out. The guards dropped their weapons and clutched their ears.

Caiman finished them.

"Four minutes," Elena said.

Jax looked at the door.

The door opened again.

Eight more guards spread out using the server racks for cover.

Kenji took the first two.

Caiman took the next two.

Jax shot two more. And the last two, they ran.

"Two minutes," Elena said.

Jax looked at the door.

The door didn't open.

The lights went out.

The servers died.

The hum stopped.

Elena stood up. Her tablet was dark.

"It's done."

Kenji looked at her. "Did we get it?"

"I got something. Not everything. The connection was cut off."

Caiman's voice was low. "Then we stay."

"We can't. They're coming."

Jax looked at the door. "Let’s go."

“Alright,” Caiman said.

The stairwell was chaotic.

Guards above them. Guards below them.

They reached the roof. The door was still open.

They ran across the gravel. Loose stones were flying.

The drainpipe was still there.

Caiman went first. Then Kenji. Then Elena. Then Jax.

They dropped to the ground.

Rina was waiting. "Go."

They ran.

When the got to the boat, the watch man wasn't even there anymore. It didn't matter.

Caiman started the engine. It groaned. Then it started.

They moved.

Behind them, the facility was dark.

Elena sat on the floor. Her head in her hands.

"Did we get it?" Jax asked.

She lifted her head. Her face was pale.

"I have part of it. Not all."

"Which part?"

She pulled out her tablet. The screen flickered. A file opened. Its schematics.

"Sword of Damocles."

Jax took the tablet and stared at the screen.

Orbital weapons platform. Satellites with railguns targeted anywhere on Earth.

Kenji looked over his shoulder. His face went pale.

"They can hit any city or any target any time."

Elena nodded. Her voice was barely a whisper.

"The control center is on the Odyssey."

“Odyssey again,” Kenji said, not smiling. “We were there before.”