Chapter 75: Alex's POV

The screen went black.

One second I was looking at her—her eyes fogged with pain but focused on me.

Then nothing.

Just silence.

I slammed my fist into the reinforced glass.

"Nell!"

Nothing.

No response.

No feed.

No movement.

Just an endless hum from the servers and the pulsing red of the alarm that had started shrieking seconds after the feed went dark.

Not mine.

Not Reed’s.

Something else.

Langston's voice crackled through my comms. "That wasn't us."

"I know."

He sounded tense. "It came from the internal mainframe. Military-level override. Echo-6 just went into full lockdown."

Rick appeared beside me, panting, shirt half torn, blood on his cheek. "We’ve lost visual. My team’s trapped near the north corridor. Exit tunnels are closing."

I turned, adrenaline running cold through my veins. "Get them out. Now."

"We're trying. But there's something wrong with the system—our hacks aren't working anymore."

Behind us, more barriers hissed shut.

Steel slammed against steel.

Lights flickered.

The entire compound was sealing itself from the inside out.

Langston was still on comms. "I’ve seen this before. A forced isolation. Protocol Blacklight. It’s designed for only one thing: containment."

I didn’t say anything.

I knew what it meant.

They weren’t just protecting secrets anymore.

They were hiding something.

Or someone.

\---

I kicked open a supply room and pulled a makeshift crowbar from a maintenance kit. "We’re not leaving her."

Rick blocked the hallway as more of our guards joined us. "Alex, we can’t win this fight blind. The AI has taken over. They know the exits, the cams, the blind spots."

"Then create new ones," I snapped.

I pushed down the hall. The door to the observation deck was already locked down. Beyond it, where I last saw her, silence.

We were being boxed in like rats.

And Nell was gone.

\---

Ten minutes later, we broke into the server substation using a thermal cutter. Langston had managed to remotely access one of the bypasses, but it wouldn’t last long.

The moment we entered, I knew.

She wasn’t here.

They moved her.

The cables were ripped from the monitors. The footage wiped. The biometric tracking system that had been monitoring her vitals? Disabled.

"They scrubbed it," Langston said, breathing hard. "Whoever did this didn’t just lock the doors. They erased the evidence."

I stood there, surrounded by hollow noise, staring at an empty screen.

Gone.

Again.

\---

We evacuated through the only route left: an emergency service tunnel hidden behind the incinerator vault. It led to an old freight shaft—sealed from the outside.

My men blew it open.

Smoke filled our lungs. Concrete dust clung to our clothes. Above us, moonlight filtered through shattered beams.

When we emerged, the sky had turned grey.

Dawn.

Rick dropped to his knees outside the gate and spat blood.

I didn’t stop moving.

Langston followed me to the SUV, his hand on my shoulder.

"We didn’t lose."

I turned slowly.

"Didn’t we?"

He looked at me for a long moment. Then, quietly, he said, "This wasn’t Reed."

"I know."

"This... this was bigger. Reed doesn’t have military override access. Not anymore."

I narrowed my eyes. "Then who does?"

Langston glanced back toward the compound, the wind picking up around us.

"There’s only one name on that level of clearance."

Rick joined us, leaning against the car, face grim.

"Blackthorn."

I froze.

That name wasn’t a person.

It was an operation.

A shadow group with clearance above top-secret.

Rumors said they cleaned up the government’s dirtiest work. Experiments. Cover-ups. Erasures.

They were supposed to be a myth.

"They were behind the original program," Langston said. "Phase One, Phase Two... They buried everything. Reed was just a handler. Cross was the face. But the orders? They came from above. From Blackthorn."

"And now they have Nell," I whispered.

Rick looked at me. "You think they want to erase her again?"

I stared at the horizon.

"No."

My voice dropped.

"They want to use her."

\---

Back in the SUV, I sat in silence while we sped away from the remains of Echo-6. The compound was already sealing itself. Automated systems had erased our access. Whatever secrets were inside, they were buried again.

My phone buzzed.

Private line.

Encrypted.

One message:

"The asset is in transit. Do not engage."

I looked up.

"They think they can give me orders."

Rick asked, "What are we going to do?"

I stared out the window, my jaw tightening.

"We change the rules."

\---

Thirty minutes later, I was in the war room.

My private command center in the city. Ten floors underground. Soundproof. Scrambled.

I stood at the center of a digital map, Langston and Rick flanking me.

"They moved her west," Langston said. "The last trace from their signal shows a convoy heading toward a secure Blackthorn facility hidden in a mountain sector."

"We can't reach her there. Not yet. But we can track their route."

I nodded.

"Then we follow the convoy."

Rick glanced at me. "That place... it’s untouchable. Even for you."

I walked to the panel.

Pulled open a drawer.

Inside: a keycard.

Not just any.

A Blackthorn access key.

Rick stared. "Where the hell did you get that?"

"From someone who thought I wouldn’t use it."

I slid the card into the terminal.

The system lit up. Coordinates displayed. Routes unlocked. Files unsealed.

Langston cursed softly. "Jesus. That’s... that’s their master list."

I nodded.

"And I’m going to burn them with it."

\---

But just as the screen loaded—

An alert popped up.

INCOMING TRANSMISSION - UNKNOWN SOURCE

We stared.

The feed connected.

A dark room.

A silhouette.

A voice.

"Mr. Carter. Stand down. This is your final warning. Pursue this further, and you won’t just lose the girl. You’ll lose everything."

I stepped forward, my hands curling into fists.

"If you touch her again, I’ll bring the whole mountain down."

The screen flickered.

The transmission ended.

Just a black screen.

And silence.

\---

The room stayed silent after the call, the echo of that threat hanging over us. Langston’s fingers danced over the controls, locking down the war room. Rick glanced at me, uneasy for the first time since we’d met.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t. The words pounded in my skull: You’ll lose everything.

My phone vibrated again—a private number. I stared at the screen, debating if I should answer. Rick shook his head, but I pressed accept anyway.

Static. Then, a soft, broken whisper.

“Nell—”

I jerked upright. Her voice was faint, strangled, but unmistakable. The call lasted only seconds before cutting out. I shouted at Langston to trace it, but he was already working.

“She’s alive,” I breathed, feeling hope and fear twist in my gut. “She’s trying to reach us.”

Rick leaned closer. “That means she’s not at the mountain facility yet. She might be in transit—if Blackthorn’s moving her, it’s now or never.”

Langston’s hands flew across the board, pulling up a grid of routes. “There’s a signal ping—unusual, scrambled, but close. It’s coming from an armored convoy on the west highway. Looks like they’re headed toward the range, but they have to cross through the city’s old service tunnels first.”

He met my gaze, waiting.

I didn’t hesitate. “We intercept them before they reach Blackthorn territory. Call in every favor, every team. I want eyes on every tunnel, every overpass. Nothing moves without us knowing.”

Rick nodded, a ghost of a smile at the edge of his lips. “That’s more like it.”

I swept the files off the table and grabbed my coat. “I’m not asking for permission anymore. If Blackthorn wants a war, they’ll get it.”

Langston started relaying instructions through encrypted channels. Teams checked in, armored vehicles assembled. Outside, dawn was breaking—the kind of day you knew would end in blood.

Before leaving, I paused at the war room door. My reflection stared back from the reinforced glass—unshaven, eyes dark, determination burning. I’d never felt so helpless, or so angry.

But this was bigger than business, or power, or secrets. This was about Nell.

No one would take her from me again.

Not Blackthorn. Not Reed. Not anyone.

\---

We sped through the city in a convoy of SUVs, security detail fanned out like a private army. Helicopter blades thundered overhead—my men tracking every possible escape route.

Langston sat in the back seat, monitoring the pings. Rick loaded a rifle, eyes scanning every side street.

The city felt different today. As if it was waiting for something to snap.

“Convoy approaching,” Langston reported. “Two armored trucks. Lead vehicle has jamming signals—state of the art.”

“Is Nell inside?” I demanded.

He nodded. “I’d bet my life.”

I grabbed the radio. “Block all exits. We box them in, force them to stop before they hit the tunnels. No collateral. If Blackthorn’s got tricks, we need to be ready for anything.”

Our vehicles closed in, engines roaring.

The convoy swerved, realizing the trap.

The first truck accelerated, crashing through a barricade—then slammed into a spike strip Rick’s men had set up. Tires shredded, the vehicle screeched to a halt. Armed guards spilled out, guns drawn.

Shots rang out—controlled, precise.

I moved with my team, head down, adrenaline in my veins. We were outnumbered, but better trained, more desperate.

As bullets flew and the noise turned savage, I saw the back of the second truck open. Two men dragged someone—small, limp, a bag over her head.

Nell.

I ran.

Bullets tore into the concrete around me, but I didn’t stop.

Rick covered my flank, dropping a guard with a clean shot.

One of Blackthorn’s men yanked Nell toward a waiting car.

“No!” I roared, breaking through the chaos.

She stumbled, and for one split second, her hand slipped free of the guard’s grip. Our eyes met through the haze—hers wild, terrified, but alive.

“Nell!”

A second guard slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. My head hit the pavement. Everything spun.

Above the gunfire, I heard her scream my name.

And then—tires screeching, doors slamming, the car sped away with Nell inside.

By the time I struggled up, bleeding, it was gone.

The city fell silent again, sirens in the distance.

I dropped to my knees, clutching the spot where I last saw her.

Langston appeared at my side, breathless, face white. “They switched cars—blinded our signal. They’re gone.”

Rick holstered his gun, cursing under his breath.

I stared down the empty road, my fists shaking.

This wasn’t over.

Not by a long shot.

And for the first time, I realized—Blackthorn wasn’t just another enemy.

They were going to destroy everything I cared about.

Unless I destroyed them first.