Chapter 14 THE FIRST INTEL

Chapter 14 THE FIRST INTEL
Sera's POV

The secure communicator arrived hidden in the meal cart.

A small device. Black. Encrypted. Something Nova had smuggled through kitchen staff that had quietly defected. When I activated it, a single message waited.

From Lila.

"I've been going through the files they keep on secure servers. The ones only high-level staff can access. I copied everything I could find. It's bad, Sera. Really bad. The attached data is the Genesis Program's actual termination rates. Cassia doesn't report these numbers to the Tribunal. She keeps them hidden."

The file was labeled: Genesis Center Alpha - Breeding Program Statistics (Classified).

I read the first number and my hands went numb.

73%.

Seventy-three percent of Breeders assigned to the Genesis Program failed to conceive within the mandatory 90-day window and were terminated as genetic failures.

Terminated.

That was the word they used. Like the women weren't people. Like they were malfunctioning equipment that needed to be discarded.

I called the others to my room. Not the greenhouse. Too risky. Kade stationed himself at the door like a human alarm system. Ryker and Damon sat on either side of me, reading the data on my tablet.

"This can't be right," Damon said. His voice was rough. "There's no way Cassia would report false numbers to the Tribunal."

"She's not reporting them at all," I whispered. "That's the point. The Tribunal thinks the Program has a 40% success rate. That's what's in the official documents. But the real number is 73% failure."

Ryker's eyes moved across the numbers like he was reading a language only he understood. Scientific notation. Statistical probability. The pure mathematics of murder.

"Look at the timeline data," Ryker said quietly. "The Program was designed with a specific stress structure. Medical appointments every three days. Nutritional protocols designed to be slightly caloric deficient. Artificial light cycles that disrupt sleep patterns. Psychological evaluations that create anxiety."

He looked up from the tablet.

"This isn't accidental," Ryker continued. "This is engineered. The 90-day window was deliberately set at a length designed to fail. Natural human reproduction takes months sometimes, even years. Stress hormones suppress fertility. This entire Program is constructed to guarantee failure."

Damon's jaw clenched. "Why would she do that?"

"Because failure is the point," I said. The pieces were sliding together in my head, forming a horrible picture. "The Tribunal doesn't actually care about repopulation. They care about control."

Ryker nodded slowly. "Cassia keeps the real statistics hidden because if the Tribunal knew 73% of Breeders were being terminated, there would be resistance. Questions. Investigations. But if they think the Program is working even at 40% success, they believe it's necessary. They believe it's worth the cost."

"The cost is human lives," I said.

Kade had been quiet, just watching from the door. But now he moved closer. "If the Tribunal really wanted genetic diversity and population growth, they wouldn't design a system built to fail. They'd make conception easier. They'd lower the stress. They'd actually want people to survive."

"They want control," Ryker repeated. His voice was hollow. "Keep the population desperate. Keep the Breeders terrified. Keep everyone focused on survival instead of resistance. A population fighting to stay alive doesn't have energy to fight the system."

Damon stood up abruptly. He moved to the window and pressed his forehead against the glass like he could see through the facility walls to all the women in cells right now. Women with 16 days left in their 90-day window. Women who thought if they just got pregnant, they'd survive.

Women who were already dead and didn't know it yet.

"So the Program isn't about repopulation at all," Damon said. Not a question.

"It's about control," Ryker confirmed. "Keep people desperate and they'll accept anything. Accept the rules. Accept the assignments. Accept that they have no choice."

My rage was building into something sharp and focused. Not the wild anger from when they first captured me. Something colder. Something that could be aimed.

"Then we take that control away," I said.

Everyone looked at me.

"We expose this," I continued. "We get these statistics out. We make people understand what the Program really is. The Production Districts. The Fringe. Everyone. They need to know they're not failing the Program. The Program is failing them by design."

Ryker was already thinking ahead. "We'd need to broadcast it. Something that reaches the entire city simultaneously. Something Cassia can't contain or suppress."

"Nova," Kade said. "She has security clearance. If anyone can access the broadcast systems, it's her."

But before anyone could respond, my tablet buzzed again.

Another message from Lila.

I opened it and read the first line. Then read it again.

"What?" Damon asked immediately. He could see my face changing. "What is it?"

I showed them the screen.

"There's more data," I read aloud. "Something Cassia didn't even know I found. Thorne's personal files. I accessed them through a backdoor in the security system. Sera, there are schematics. Plans for Phase 2. It's a new plague variant. Different from the original. This one is designed to activate in anyone with genetic resistance markers. It would kill anyone with your mutation."

My hands shook.

"Thorne isn't trying to cure the Sterility Plague," Lila's message continued. "He's trying to ensure permanent dependence on the Tribunal's control. Anyone who naturally develops immunity would be eliminated. The Program would never end because natural resistance could never develop."

The implication sat heavy in the room.

"Phase 2 is scheduled to deploy in six days," Lila wrote. "Cassia is supposed to receive the variant shipment tomorrow. It's being kept in the Medical Wing secure storage."

Six days.

Six days before everyone with Sera's genetic markers was marked for death.

I felt Kade's hand on my shoulder. Ryker's expression hardened into something I'd never seen before. Not scientific. Something personal. Protective. Dangerous.

Damon turned from the window and his scarred face was carved from fury.

"They're not just trying to control us," Damon said quietly. "They're trying to eliminate anyone who could ever be free."

My tablet buzzed again.

Another message from Lila.

"But wait. There's something else. I'm still going through Thorne's files and I found encrypted communications. Between Cassia and someone inside the Genesis Center. Someone who's been reporting on you directly. Someone gave Cassia your location when you were in the Fringe. Someone sold you to the Tribunal, Sera."

The room went still.

"Lila's still decoding the name," I read. "But she says there's one more message attached. It's written by the informant. A confession. It explains everything."

I opened the final attachment.

It was a video file. Audio only, encrypted, dated three weeks ago.

I pressed play.

A voice came through the speaker. Familiar. Painful. A voice I hadn't heard in three years but recognized instantly.

"My name is Jace Morgan and I need to explain why I did what I did to Sera Ashford."

The tablet fell from my hands.

Jace. The man I'd trusted with my life. The man I'd worked beside every single day in the Fringe clinic. The man who knew all my secrets and all my fears.

Jace was the one who'd given me to the Tribunal.

"He's there," Kade said. His voice was ice. "Jace Morgan is here in the Genesis Center. I've seen him. Medical technician. He was at the facility briefings."

Ryker's face had gone pale. "He has access to the medical wing. He has access to all of us. If he knows about the rebellion planning..."

"He's already reported it," I finished. "That's how Cassia knew about the greenhouse meetings. That's why they're accelerating the timeline. Jace has been feeding them information the entire time."

Damon moved toward the door. "I'll kill him."

"No," Kade said. "If Jace dies, Cassia investigates. She finds out he was working with us. Everything collapses."

"So what do we do?" Damon demanded. "We have someone actively sabotaging us. Someone reporting everything we do."

I picked up the tablet with shaking hands and played the rest of Jace's confession.

His voice filled the room.

"I betrayed Sera because I loved her and she would never love me back. I thought if I gave her to the Tribunal, she'd eventually be assigned to me. But she wasn't. She was assigned to three men. And now I realize what I've done. I've destroyed the only person in the world worth saving. And I can't undo it. I can't take back the betrayal. But maybe I can end it."

The message cut off.

Then came Lila's voice one final time.

"The rest of the file is corrupted. I don't know what Jace meant. But Sera, there's one more thing you need to know. Jace isn't just observing anymore. Cassia gave him direct orders this morning. He's supposed to contaminate your blood sample during tomorrow's medical testing. Introduce the Phase 2 plague variant early. Kill you before you can be any more of a problem."

The room spun.

"They're not just hunting you anymore," Lila said, her voice breaking. "They're executing you tomorrow. You have less than 24 hours before Jace tries to murder you in that medical wing."