Chapter 8 - The HourThe countdown began.
59:59.
59:58.
Cassian looked toward the control panel.
“Can you stop it?”
Elena studied the screens.
“No.”
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Then what happens at zero?”
“I don't know.”
Dante looked at the cameras.
“Someone is watching us.”
Elena nodded.
“Yes.”
Cassian stared at her.
“How calm are you?”
“I am not calm.”
“You look calm.”
“I was trained not to show panic.”
Cassian gave a humorless smile.
“I noticed.”
They searched the command room.
Nothing.
No explosives.
No obvious traps.
Then Elena noticed something on the main monitor.
A map.
Blackwood Manor.
Every room highlighted in red.
Except one.
The kitchen.
She stared.
“That's where I need to go.”
Cassian followed.
“Why?”
“Because the network has no camera there.”
Marcus frowned.
“Everyone watches the kitchen.”
“Not a network built by people who assume servants are irrelevant.”
They moved upstairs.
The mansion was strangely quiet.
Bodies still lay in the halls.
Blood darkened the carpets.
Smoke drifted through broken windows.
Elena entered the kitchen.
She walked to the pantry.
Behind a shelf was a narrow opening.
Cassian looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
Inside was a small room.
A chair.
A desk.
One old cassette recorder.
Elena approached it.
The device clicked on.
Her mother's voice returned.
“If you found this, then the Council has activated the final protocol.”
Elena pressed a hand against her mouth.
“Final protocol?”
Her mother continued.
“Cassian Thorne is not your enemy.”
Cassian closed his eyes.
The next sentence hit harder.
“He is your protection.”
Elena looked at him.
“What?”
Her mother explained.
Years ago, after Elena's father's death, the Council had ordered her eliminated.
But one man refused.
Cassian's father.
He had secretly moved Elena into a protection network and erased her identity.
He arranged for her to be trained.
Then hidden.
Cassian interrupted.
“Why didn't my father tell me?”
“Because you were sixteen.”
The recording answered as though it could hear him.
“He knew the Council would use you against her.”
Elena stepped closer.
Her mother's voice softened.
“Your father saved Elena because he knew one day she would be the only person capable of exposing the Council.”
Cassian stared at Elena.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then why did you come here?”
Elena looked away.
“To investigate your father's death.”
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
“My father died in an accident.”
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“He was murdered.”
The countdown continued.
41:23
Cassian clenched his jaw.
“Who killed him?”
A sound came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
Dante stood there.
Holding a gun.
Pointed at Cassian.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Dante.”
Dante's eyes were filled with tears.
“I tried to warn you.”
Cassian looked at him.
“Warn me about what?”
Dante swallowed.
“They have my daughter.”
Silence.
“I had no choice.”
Cassian's expression hardened.
“Put the gun down.”
“I can't.”
Elena slowly stepped forward.
“Dante.”
He looked at her.
She whispered:
“Your daughter isn't alive.”
Dante's face collapsed.
Elena continued.
“She died six months ago.”
Dante's hands began shaking.
“How do you know?”
“Because the Council sent me the file.”
Dante stared.
Then he lowered his weapon.
Elena caught it.
A shot exploded.
Dante fell.
Someone had fired from the hallway.
May you like
And the countdown suddenly changed.
10:00
