Chapter 29

Chapter 29
The sun was barely a smear on the horizon when we reached the edge of the compound.

It didn’t look like much from the outside. Fenced perimeter. Security booth. A few drab, one-story buildings scattered across a gravel courtyard. But that was just the façade.

According to Mara’s map, the real facility was underground—five levels deep, armored like a bunker, and wired to erase itself in seconds if things went wrong.

We crouched behind a cluster of rocks overlooking the western gate. Guards paced in pairs, their movements strict and rehearsed. Two cameras. A drone making slow, lazy loops in the sky.

014 adjusted her hood. “If we wait until nightfall—”

“We don’t have that long,” I said, checking my watch. “The files transfer at noon.”

She nodded once, then pointed. “That gate. It opens every forty-five minutes when supply trucks come through. We get inside then. Blend in.”

“Blend in how?”

She grinned. “Ever hotwired a supply truck?”

We got lucky.

The supply driver left his keys in the ignition while stepping inside the outpost to check paperwork. I slid into the driver’s seat while 014 pulled her hoodie low and climbed into the back, curling behind crates labeled MEDICAL.

“Timing is everything,” I muttered, checking the side mirror.

I shifted into gear and rolled forward.

The guard at the gate gave us a lazy wave. “You’re late.”

I shrugged, trying to match his casual irritation. “Tire blew out on the highway.”

“Typical.” He yawned, waved us through, and hit the button.

The gate opened.

We were in.

Inside, the facility was eerily quiet.

Once we passed the first checkpoint and turned a corner, 014 jumped out and we abandoned the truck, slipping between two buildings toward a locked access door Mara had marked. She said her code would still work.

I typed it in.

Nothing.

014 swore under her breath. “Maybe they wiped the system.”

I pressed my palm to the reader.

The light blinked red, then green.

Click.

I exhaled slowly. “Or maybe not.”

We slipped inside.

The stairs were metal, steep, and endless. We moved quickly, quietly, until we hit Level 4—the Archive.

Rows of data terminals lined the hall. Steel walls. Motion sensors. Cameras.

And at the center, a room with its door ajar and a dull red light pulsing from within.

014 tapped my shoulder. “That’s it.”

We moved toward it.

Inside, there was a circular control panel and three large monitors. One displayed a countdown: 00:13:08 and ticking.

Beneath it, a terminal required a biometric scan.

I stepped forward. “Let me try.”

The screen blinked.

Welcome, Rivera, Estela M.

014’s eyes widened. “You’re still in their system.”

“Apparently.”

I began the download.

Encrypted files appeared in rapid succession—thousands of them. Names. Photos. Video testimony. Court records. Surveillance reports.

People like me.

People they erased.

One of the files was labeled ALPHA-R – Audio Log.

I opened it.

The voice that came through wasn’t mine.

It was Diego’s.

“She doesn’t remember. That’s the only reason she’s still breathing.

But we’re running out of time. If the file gets out—if they find out who she really is—every wall we’ve built comes down.

Don’t let her leave.”

014 stared at me.

“You okay?” she asked.

I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I just didn’t expect to hear his voice again.”

The countdown ticked past 00:05:00.

We needed to move.

I pulled the external drive from the terminal and tucked it into my jacket. The screen flashed:

TRANSFER COMPLETE.

Purge Protocol Engaged.

Alarms blared.

Red lights began flashing across the floor.

014 grabbed my arm. “Time to go.”

We ran.

Back up the stairwell. Past the checkpoint. Through a maze of locked doors and security halls. The layout changed as if the building was adapting to trap us inside.

And then, as we turned a corner, we saw them.

Soldiers.

Armed.

Too many to fight.

We skidded to a halt and ducked into a side passage—narrow, dark, lined with conduits and steam valves. Somewhere below us, the compound began to shake.

Self-destruct.

I pulled 014 forward. “Back to the supply tunnel. Mara said it led out to the cliffs.”

She didn’t argue.

We tore through the darkness, guided only by the glow of emergency lights.

Behind us, explosions rocked the structure.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

A steel beam crashed to the floor, just missing us.

We emerged into the open tunnel just as the compound began collapsing in on itself.

014 grabbed the outer hatch wheel, straining to turn it.

It opened.

Blinding light poured through.

We spilled out into it, coughing, covered in ash.

The facility was gone.

Smoke billowed from beneath the hills.

Gone… but not forgotten.

Because the files were in my jacket.

And the truth was coming.

We collapsed under the trees near the ridge, unable to move.

014 looked at me, smiling despite the blood on her sleeve and the dirt on her cheek.

“You did it,” she said.

“No,” I replied, reaching for her hand. “We did.”

She squeezed it.

Then we looked out over the forest, to the distant shape of the city beyond.

We weren’t safe.

But we were free.

For now.