Chapter 77 MASKED TRUTH
CHAPTER SEVENTY SEVEN
Dr. Patel's POV-
Rosanna’s file lay open on my desk, and it screamed betrayal: Ravi, my brother, named as Galden’s mole. How could he? I thought, my hands shaking, our memories as boys — sharing kites under Mumbai’s sky — in flames now. Fear shot through me like a cold pulse as I opened a secure line to Valenticia, my voice quavering: “Ravi’s double-crossing you, releasing your plans to Gregor. Her breathless voice snapped: “Patel, you’re sure?” I clutched at the desk, “Rosanna’s evidence—it’s him. The thing was, my Galden past — as a serum trigger-maker — was smothering me with shame. I had made this bad dream, I thought, feeling a surge of fear. Valenticia’s firm, “Get proof,” centred me, but dread murmured — can I meet my brother?
The monitors hummed, Valenticia’s Galden Exposed leak looping, Ravi’s name a wound. I hacked a drive stolen from him, serum formulas I’d designed, reworked now for warheads…and I can’t do it, Ravi, my fingers fumbling, heart pounding—he’s not the Ravi I used to know. Erasing evidence, I promised to make good, Eleanor’s voice — Use your genius for good — a muffled beacon. Fear thrummed, remembering Ravi’s boyish smile there on Rosanna’s photo, now a traitor’s smirk. Where did we break? Seryne’s skyline sparkled through the glass, mocking me against the background of my suffering. I typed, and wiped out Galden’s beak, scent fading — I will — for Valenticia, for Eleanor.
The door opened, and Ravi stepped into the room, his suit sharp, eyes cold as steel. “Sanjay, you are meddling in my affairs?” he said, voice icy. My throat tightened as fear caught me for a moment. “Ravi, why Gregor? His serum—it’s evil!” I stood, voice cracking. He laughed, cruel and bitter, “You’re blind, brother. Galden is powerful, with warheads and control. Join us.” My heart splintered, our collective dreams — we’ll change the world — are crumbling. “You’re betraying Eleanor’s daughter!” I shouted, fists clenched. “Eleanor”? “She was weak, just like you were”, Ravi sneered. “Her fight’s dead.” Seared pain, a brother to a stranger. “You were my family,” I murmured, voice cracking. He leaned in, eyes flashing, “You are weak, brother—are you with us or are you against us”?
Resolve flared, a blaze in place of fear. “No,” I growled, spinning to my console, fingers flowing to undermine his drive, scrubbing programs for warhead trajectories, neural codes—Galden’s ships negating. “You’re ruining us!” Ravi howled, lunging for the keyboard. I shoved him away, heartbroken, “I'm rescuing her!” "Done with deletions," the console chimed, and an oath of fire, my vow to make amends. Fear spiked as screens went black, a hack taking over, red type flashing: You’re Next. Panic surged—Natasha’s spies? My breath hitched, Seryne night beyond, the office a prison.
Fear flooded through me, a frozen knot in my chest, as I snatched the backup drive—my lifeline, which held evidence of Ravi's betrayal—and fled to the door. My hands shook, the enormity of my Galden past crushing me, serum formulas I had created now warheads in Gregor’s arsenal. I have to get to Valenticia, I thought, resolution flickering like a candle in the wind. Beneath the corridor hummed with fluorescent light, Seryne’s starlit skyline a sparkling snare outside the glass. Ravi’s cold You’re weak echoed, my brother’s betrayal a wound still bleeding raw. I darted into the stairwell, lab coat flapping, fear pulsing — they’re coming for me.
The stairs were spiraling downward -- I could hear my boots clanking–every step a bet against how far Natasha’s clutch would carry. I gasped for breath and squeezed the drive, its data—Ravi’s serum logs, deleted warhead codes—a weapon for Valenticia. There was doubt, a creature always at the center of attention — can I fix this? And a memory of Eleanor Clawford emerged, her kind voice in 1999, “You’re brilliant, Sanjay, use it for good”. Her faith, her struggle against Gregor—her nephew — never had I even tried, as I had hesitantly supported Galden’s serum. I just let her down, I thought, guilt a knife, but she’d given me strength; determination flaring. Seryne's sea breeze knocked me as I broke into an alleyway, the city's neon glare a mask of shadows. Panic surged, Are they watching me”?
I ran to a dumpster, heart pounding, and checked the drive’s casing — fine, thank God. My burner phone vibrated, Valenticia’s cryptic text: Proof? Fingers shaking, I typed Ravi’s drive—warhead data. “I’m running.” Her instructions, ” Get to safehouse Delta”, helped calm me…but fear raced—can I reach it? Seryne's alleys turned, fish stalls and salt air wrapping around me. A drone whirred me to a halt, its red eye patrolling the avenue. It’s Natasha’s tech, I realized, pressing my back to the wall, fearing a clamp. The drone went by, but I was pounding out heartbeats — they are near. I hustled my way through crowds, lab coat replaced by a threadbare jacket, determination but a thin ember.
My memories of Eleanor were my anchor - her fierce eyes locked on that Galden peak, staring down Gregor’s serum schemes. I believed she believed in me, I thought, her faith like fire against doubt. I ducked into an abandoned cafe with darkened, cracked windows to see the drive on a burner tablet. As the files loaded, panic rose—serum codes I had deleted, but then one deleted file caught my eye—Galden Mole: Inner Circle. I breathed in sharply, a revelation forming: it identified a traitor among the allies of Valenticia, whose nature was encoded. Who’s betraying her? I thought, my terror spiking—Rosanna? Marcus? The lock on the file withstood my hacks, doubt chewing — have I come too late?
There were heavy crunching footsteps outside, and I suppressed my tablet, fearing a cold sweat. A shadow crossed the window — Natasha’s spy! My heart beating out of my chest, the drive my only evidence, Valenticia’s only hope. I took it, slid out the back, Labyrinth of alleys, Seryne. A memory of Ravi’s boyhood laugh — We’ll conquer the stars, Sanjay — twisted the knife of his treachery. He’s gone, I thought, and my resolve stiffened. I skirted along one of the piers, standing waves churning below, the all-asphyxiating fears of the drone’s fine hum all hopping back into my ear closer this time. They’ve wrecked me, I reflected, darting into a fish market, its stench a guard.
The drive scorched a hole in my pocket, the mole’s identity the unbearable question—who knows her more intimately than Ravi? I hacked into a public terminal and sent Valenticia a partial file, “Mole in your circle — working on ID.” Her answer, “Hurry, Patel”, was a lifeline, but fear ran through me — can I outrun them? I had a hooded figure following me, walking too formally by my side. Natasha’s assassin? That flicker of resolve, as Eleanor’s mantra was Use it for good. Seryne’s shadows came threateningly close, fear pulsing, a new wave of danger unfolding: I must get to Valenticia before Natasha’s spy snuffs me out.