Chapter 178 Stabilize the Situation

Chapter 178 Stabilize the Situation

Rivera had set up a temporary helipad on the roof of Bright Horizon Pediatric Therapy.

As the helicopter descended, the rotor wash sent curtains billowing in the fourth-floor corridor.

When they wheeled the stretcher in, Wayne lay beneath a silver thermal blanket, his breathing steady beneath the oxygen mask.

The white-haired doctor completed his examination before finally lifting his fingers from Wayne's wrist.

"Fractured left clavicle, two fingers on the right hand with compound fractures, three broken ribs on the right side, and six microhemorrhages in the brain."

Morrison asked, "Will he survive?"

The white-haired doctor smoothed the edges of the thermal blanket.

"An ordinary person has three days. His heart rate is currently around fifty beats per minute—nearly at sleep levels."

Morrison's mouth twitched, but he didn't laugh.

Still, his shoulders, tense for four straight hours, relaxed slightly.

Jenny's voice drifted from the adjacent room. "Mom, is Dad back?"

Emily sat beside Wayne's bed, taking his temperature, her hand registering his warmth.

She didn't answer Jenny's question. Instead, she leaned close to Wayne's ear and whispered something only the two of them could hear.

"You owe me. When you wake up, you're paying me back yourself."

Wayne's fingers trembled.

Between his middle and index fingers, traces of the search team's bandaging remained. Beneath the gauze, the bones had already begun to realign.

The white-haired doctor observed this for three silent seconds before speaking again.

"The bones in his body are healing at twenty times the normal rate."

Morrison tucked his comm unit into his pocket. Rivera, Reed, and others waited in the corridor.

"Go home. When he wakes up, you'll be the first people he thinks of."

Rivera dropped his salute and headed for the elevator.

Reed stood for two seconds, glanced toward the room, then left.

The corridor fell quiet. Morrison leaned against the wall and slowly slid down, staring up at the ceiling.

Isaac's voice came through the comm in barely a whisper.

"Morrison, after forty-nine minutes of data modeling and seven rounds of verification—"

"What's the conclusion?"

"The neural energy Wayne expended digging that tunnel should have caused complete brain death."

"Based on normal physiological limits, he should have been completely brain-dead when the passage reached one hundred fifty meters."

"But he finished all 2,800 meters," Morrison said.

"Yes." Isaac paused for a long moment. "I can't find any explanation in physics or biology."

Morrison set the comm on the floor and glanced toward the adjacent room, where Jenny was laughing again.

"I know the explanation," he said—not into the comm, just to himself.

"There's a little girl in that room waiting for him to come home."

Morrison rested against the wall for about ten minutes before the comm crackled to life again.

Isaac said, "Morrison, someone's coming."

"All seventeen checkpoints around Riverton just granted automatic clearance simultaneously. No one issued that command."

Morrison jumped to his feet. "Where's Rivera?"

Rivera's clearance hadn't been activated—this was a higher-level verification code. The Abyss Network had identified and opened it.

Morrison was heading downstairs, gun in hand, when Rivera's comm buzzed. His aide's voice was loud.

"Chief, a convoy's heading into the city center. Their plates say they're under direct jurisdiction of the Federal Military Tribunal."

Rivera had just reached the second floor when he stopped. "What authority does the Federal Military Tribunal have here?"

His aide's answer left him frozen on the landing.

"Anyone bearing a Predator's Talon token has free passage through any sovereign nation. Wayne agreed to that protocol twenty years ago."

Morrison cursed.

"There are only three tokens in the world. One's in Wayne's hands, another's sealed in the Abyss Network's core hardware, and even Isaac doesn't know the location of the third."

Three black armored vehicles pulled up to the entrance of Bright Horizon Pediatric Therapy. Doors opened, and twelve armed personnel in dark gray uniforms stepped out—no insignia visible.

A woman emerged from the last vehicle.

Around forty, with short black hair, wearing military dress without shoulder boards.

But at her collar, she wore a silver-white badge depicting a withered tree.

Morrison stood in the lobby entrance. When he saw that badge, his pupils contracted.

"What does the Eden Council's symbol look like?"

"The Council is finished," Morrison said, leveling his gun across his chest. "You have no authority to speak here."

The woman took a black briefcase from one of her escorts, unzipped it, and pulled out a sheet of paper.

"I don't represent the Eden Council."

She held out the paper. "I represent Wayne."

Morrison didn't take it. She turned it around so he could see—two names and a holographic code for the throne token.

"The authorization signed twenty years ago states that if Wayne loses mobility for more than forty-eight hours, I assume full responsibility for all Predator's Talon operations overseas."

Morrison's gun stayed up. "What's your name?"

"Saskia." She offered no further explanation and moved toward the elevator, passing Morrison.

Morrison blocked her path. "Wayne's in critical care right now. No one goes to the fourth floor."

Saskia stopped. "You can call Isaac to verify."

Morrison didn't move. Isaac's voice came through the comm.

"Verification complete. The third token is held by Saskia. Her authorization level is Alpha-2, second only to Wayne himself."

Morrison lowered his gun but didn't step aside.

"Even with confirmation, until Wayne wakes up, you're not going to the fourth floor."

Saskia placed a folder on the reception desk. "I'm not going to the fourth floor. I'm here to solve the problems he left behind."

Morrison approached the folder, frowning.

It contained water supply and medical rehabilitation plans for seventeen Predator Legion veterans' shelters worldwide.

"Bell's water main needs repair within twenty-four hours, or people will die." Saskia spread out three more files.

"Wayne shattered the Council, but the social welfare systems the Council controlled are still running. Without someone to take them over, they'll all collapse."

Morrison understood.

Wayne had defeated the enemy, but the systems the enemy had controlled wouldn't automatically improve after their fall—they'd become abandoned instead.

"There are still over 32,000 medical personnel under lockdown. Seventeen cities remain under quarantine protocols."

Saskia spoke quickly. "Wayne already signed off. I can lift these measures in his name."

"But I need Rivera's support and verification through military channels."

Rivera came down from upstairs and caught the last sentence. "How do I know you're not here to take advantage of the situation?"

Saskia pulled out the final page of the third document. The handwriting was rough, but Rivera recognized it—Wayne's.

It read: 'If something happens to me, let Saskia clean up the mess. She won't hurt Jenny.'

Rivera looked at it for five seconds, then handed his phone to his aide. "Cooperate with her."