Chapter 225 Late

Chapter 225 Late
Matteo’s POV:

We were four minutes out when the signal died.

Not faded. Just gone.

Luca didn’t say anything. That was how I knew something was wrong.

“Talk to me,” I said.

Static answered for half a second. Then his voice came back, tighter than before.

“The node just went dark.”

I slammed my foot harder on the accelerator. Adriano grabbed the handle above the door without looking at me.

“Dark how,” Adriano asked.

“Like it never existed,” Luca replied. “No pings. No bleed. No noise.”

That was wrong.

Elio didn’t disappear cleanly. He liked leaving fingerprints just long enough for you to know he’d been there.

A warehouse came into view ahead. Old. Squatting. Lights off except for two mounted high near the roofline.

“That’s it,” I said.

Team One was already peeling off to cover the perimeter. Team Two had eyes overhead. No movement flagged yet.

Too quiet.

I was out of the car before the engine finished dying. Weapons came up. We moved fast.

The main door was open. That made my skin crawl. Inside smelled wrong.

We swept the floor in under thirty seconds. Lights snapped on. Corners cleared. Catwalks checked.

Empty. Too empty.

A chair lay on its side near the center of the space. Zip-ties cut and discarded like trash.

Blood on the concrete. Fresh splatter. My chest locked.

“She was here,” I said.

Adriano crouched near the blood, touched it with two fingers, stood again.

“Minutes ago,” he said. “Not hours.”

That almost made it worse. I stepped farther in.

Boot marks. Drag lines. Someone had been moved fast. No attempt to clean. That meant Elio wanted it found.

My jaw tightened.

“Luca,” I said. “If you’re still there, talk.”

Silence stretched. Then his voice came back, fast and sharp.

“I’m seeing something.”

“What,” I snapped.

“RECON’s spiking,” he said. “Not location. Pattern.”

“That doesn’t help me,” I said.

“It might,” Luca replied. “It’s not tracking movement anymore. It’s… reacting.”

Adriano turned his head slightly. “Explain that.”

“I don’t have full language for it,” Luca said. “But it’s pulling data from everything nearby. Phones. Cameras. Power usage. Sound patterns. Abrupt biometric disruptions picked up through secondary devices.”

My hands curled into fists.

“Say it,” I said.

Luca hesitated for the first time since this started.

“RECON is flagging harm,” he said. “Not past. Current.”

The warehouse tilted.

“How sure,” Adriano asked.

“High,” Luca answered. “It’s cross-referencing intent markers. Aggression patterns. Physical escalation indicators.”

“Percent,” I said.

“Eighty-eight,” Luca replied. “And climbing.”

I turned in a slow circle, staring at the blood on the floor.

“I was late,” I said.

“Luca,” I said. “Where.”

The line went quiet again. Keys clicked. Fast. Hard.

Then,

“Got it,” Luca said. “Jesus. Okay. It wasn’t wrong. It was redirected.”

“Redirected how,” Adriano asked.

“She’s not stationary,” Luca said. “They moved her.”

“Location,” I said.

“RECON’s locking now,” Luca replied. “It’s using proximity devices, unsecured networks, old infrastructure, abandoned sensors. It’s messy, but it’s working.”

“Give me the number,” I said.

“Ninety-eight percent probability,” Luca said. “She’s alive. She’s in distress. Severe distress.”

My vision tunneled.

“Address,” I said.

Luca gave it. It wasn’t far. Five minutes. Maybe less.

Elio had wanted the overlap. He’d wanted me close enough to feel it without stopping it.

I moved.

“Everyone in,” I said. “Now.”

No one argued.

We ran back to the vehicles. Tires screamed as we pulled out. No subtlety anymore. I didn’t care.

Adriano’s voice cut through my head.

“Matteo,” he said.

I didn’t look at him.

“You lose control now, and you lose her,” he said.

“I already lost time,” I replied.

“Yes,” Adriano said. “So don’t lose anything else.”

Luca came back on comms, talking fast.

“They’re not masking movement anymore,” he said. “That means they think they’re done.”

“Done with what,” Adriano asked.

Luca didn’t answer immediately.

“That part’s hard to read,” he said. “But the harm indicators are tapering. Not stopping.”

My grip tightened on the wheel.

“They hurt her,” I said.

“Yes,” Luca replied.

The word sat heavy.

“They’re moving again,” Luca continued. “Different pattern now. Cleanup mode.”

I took a hard turn onto a side road that shouldn’t have existed. Adriano braced himself without comment.

The city fell away. Warehouses thinned. Lights dropped off.

“You’re going to breach,” Adriano said.

“Yes.”

“Not alone,” he added.

I didn’t answer.

Luca’s voice cut in again, urgent now.

“Matteo. Listen to me. RECON is still reading her.”

“How,” I snapped.

“I don’t know,” Luca said. “But it’s consistent. She’s conscious. She’s not panicking. That’s the only reason the system can keep her profile stable.”

I exhaled once, sharp.

That sounded like her.

“She’s buying time,” Adriano said.

“Yes,” I replied.

Luca kept going.

“The harm indicators are tied to one individual,” he said. “Single aggressor. Command presence. Others responding to him.”

“Elio,” I said.

“Yes.”

My foot pressed harder.

The road ahead narrowed. One lane. Broken pavement. No streetlights. There a structure loomed ahead.

“Two minutes,” Luca said.

I didn’t slow.

“They’ll hear you,” Adriano said.

“Good,” I replied.

The vehicle skidded to a stop. I was out before the dust settled.

“Positions,” Adriano barked.

Men moved. Fast.

I didn’t wait. I moved straight for the door. Adriano caught my arm.

“Matteo.”

I turned. His eyes were steady.

“She needs you thinking,” he said. “Not reacting.”

My chest heaved.

“I am thinking,” I said.

“No,” he replied. “You’re barely holding it together.”

I leaned in, voice low and deadly.

“If I walk in there and she’s…”

“You walk in,” Adriano interrupted, “and you do it clean. For her.”

That landed. I nodded once.

Then I raised my hand. Breach.

The door came down under the second hit.

We poured in.

Shouting. Movement. Chaos.

Someone fired. Someone went down.

I didn’t register faces.

I registered space.

Blood.

Chairs.

A woman screaming somewhere deeper inside.

Not Ivy.

That mattered.

“Elio,” I said into the noise. “You wanted me here.”

Gunfire cracked again.

Luca’s voice shouted in my ear.

“Matteo, left corridor. She’s close. Very close.”

I moved.

A man stepped into my path.

I put him down without slowing.

Another reached for his weapon.

He didn’t finish.

My heart was hammering so hard it felt like it would tear through my chest.

“Ivy,” I said, louder now.

No answer.

But I felt her.

The way you feel a storm before it hits.

I turned the corner, and saw the room.

Empty.

A chair knocked over.

Fresh marks on the concrete where someone had been dragged.

I stopped.

Just for a second.

My breath caught. I was late.

Again.

“No,” I said.

Luca’s voice cut through the noise, sharp and absolute.

“Matteo. She’s not here. But she’s alive. I’m sure now. The system is stable. She’s still thinking.”

That was the only thing that kept me upright.

“Where,” I said.

Luca didn’t hesitate.

“South,” he said. “He’s moving her again. Short distance. He knows you’re here.”

Of course he did.

I turned and walked back toward the noise.

“Elio,” I said calmly. “Run.”

Because this time, I wasn’t chasing blind.

This time, Ivy was still fighting.

And that meant I wasn’t done yet.