Chapter 4 4

The cold in Geneva was different from Zurich- crisper, more silent, like the city held its breath beneath centuries of polished stone and diplomatic secrets.

Tino Knightly's convoy moved through the Old Quarter without fanfare. Two black SUVs, reinforced glass, rotating drivers. Inside, he sat beside Sandy Rhune, reviewing the grainy satellite photo Rocca had unearthed.

A nondescript building near the Cathedral district. Historic. Unassuming.

But beneath it-according to Jakob Hess's last words-was a vault Evelyn Drazen used to store encrypted files, bio-research data, and backup plans in the event of exposure. A last sanctuary of secrets.

Rocca's voice came through the comms. "Teams are in position. No heat signatures inside. Motion sensors disabled. We're green."

Tino leaned over to Sandy. "Stay sharp. This place doesn't give up its ghosts without a fight."

"I didn't come here for ghosts," Sandy murmured. "I came for the truth."

-

The entrance was hidden beneath a cellar.

The stairs creaked beneath their feet, then opened into a steel-plated corridor guarded by biometric locks. Rocca used a pulse chip scanner, bypassing the retinal ID. The door hissed open.

Inside: silence.

Rows of servers buzzed in glass cabinets. Cold, sterile light illuminated wall-mounted screens and physical files coded in Drazen's cryptic system.

Sandy moved fast, her journalistic instincts kicking in. "Start with the hard drives. Look for flagged tags-operation names, chemical logs, or satellite pings."

Rocca whistled. "We've got over ten terabytes of data here. Encryption's tight."

"Crack it," Tino ordered. "Or blow the whole place."

Sandy stopped near a sealed metal drawer labeled: VALKYRIE.

She typed in a string of numbers-Cole's old agency ID.

The drawer unlocked with a click.

Inside was a leather-bound journal and a small silver USB stick labeled in Latin: Omnia revelantur - All things are revealed.

She held it up. "This might be it."

Tino looked at her. "Let's get out of here."

But as they turned to leave, Rocca's voice came through sharply: "We've got a problem."

"What kind?" Tino snapped.

"Three inbound vehicles. Unmarked. No plates. Armed men."

Drazen had found them. Again.

"Secure the vault," Tino growled. "Rocca, delay them. Sandy, with me."

He led her up a side stairwell-narrow, winding stone, carved into the belly of the old city. At the top, a service door opened into the courtyard behind the cathedral.

They emerged just as bullets tore through the main entrance behind them.

Sandy ducked instinctively. Tino grabbed her hand. "This way!"

They ran-through alleys, down cobbled paths. The USB clenched in her palm like a burning brand.

"Why do they want this so badly?" she asked, breathless.

"Because whatever's on that drive," Tino said grimly, "is Drazen's insurance policy-or his endgame."

-

They didn't stop running until they reached the safehouse in Geneva's diplomatic quarter-an old chateau converted into a fallback compound by the Knightly Syndicate.

Rocca arrived minutes later, blood on his jacket, eyes grim.

"They hit us fast. Precise. Like they knew we were coming."

"They did," Tino said. "Which means there's a leak."

Sandy paced the room, USB still in hand. "We need to access this now."

Rocca gestured to a secured laptop already prepped.

Sandy plugged in the drive.

The screen blinked to life.

Encrypted files. Audio recordings. Blueprints. A single video file titled: "Project Helix: Marseille Protocol."

She opened it.

Victor Drazen appeared on screen-standing in front of what looked like a private laboratory.

"We've come far," he said calmly. "Soon, the world will understand. Marseille will be our stage. The weapon-a neurological cascade compound-will redefine warfare. One dose, airborne, triggers selective paralysis. One whisper, and whole cities fall quiet."

Sandy stared in horror. "It's not just about control. It's biological terrorism."

Tino's face darkened. "He plans to test it in Marseille."

"The gala," Sandy whispered. "The one scheduled next week. Government leaders. UN scientists. It's the perfect cover."

"We need to stop it," Tino said. "Now."

"But we can't go to the authorities," Rocca said. "Drazen has eyes everywhere. If we make this public without evidence, they'll kill it. And us."

Sandy looked at the drive, then back at Tino. "Then we expose him another way."

-

That night, Sandy stood alone in the library of the safehouse, staring at a photo of her brother. Cole's smile. His stubborn eyes.

"You knew," she whispered. "You found all of this... and they silenced you before you could finish it."

Tino stepped into the room, watching her quietly.

"I shouldn't have brought you into this," he said. "I thought I could shield you from what's coming."

She turned to him. "I don't need shielding, Tino. I need the truth. I need to finish what Cole started."

He nodded slowly. "We'll burn them all."

She reached for his hand.

"Together?"

His fingers curled around hers. "Always."

And for the first time in years, Sandy Rhune didn't feel like she was standing on the edge of a cliff.

She felt like she'd finally jumped-and wasn't falling alone.

-

But miles away, in a darkened penthouse overlooking the French Riviera, Victor Drazen watched them through grainy surveillance footage.

He turned to a woman beside him-elegant, ageless, eyes like mirrors.

Evelyn Drazen.

"They're getting too close," she said.

Victor smiled coldly. "Let them. When Marseille burns, the world will watch-and the age of kings will end."

---

The following morning in Geneva broke cold and gray. A thin veil of mist clung to the rooftops, as if the city itself braced for what was coming.

Tino Knightly stood at the edge of the safehouse courtyard, watching the sun try and fail to pierce through the clouds. His mind wasn't in Geneva, though. It was racing ahead-to Marseille. To Victor Drazen's planned demonstration. To Sandy Rhune, still asleep upstairs with the USB stick hidden beneath a loose floorboard.

He'd been fighting shadows all his life. But Drazen wasn't a shadow anymore.

He was flesh. And he was close.

Footsteps crunched on the gravel behind him. Rocca approached, coffee in hand, face set like stone.

"We have a bigger problem."

Tino turned. "How big?"

"Someone leaked our Zurich and Geneva routes to Drazen. We've ruled out external surveillance-this came from the inside."

Tino's eyes narrowed. "You're saying we have a mole."

"I'm saying one of ours tipped Drazen off. And that means if we move forward without rooting them out first- Marseille will be a slaughterhouse."

Tino ran a hand through his hair. "Put every operative under review. Until I know who I'm standing next to, I trust no one."

Rocca hesitated. "Including her?"

Tino froze.

"Sandy?" he asked, voice low.

"She's not one of us," Rocca said. "She's smart. Resourceful. But her brother worked for the Agency. We don't know what else she's carrying."

Tino's voice was a growl. "She's not the leak."

"How do you know?"

Tino turned, his eyes blazing. "Because I've seen liars. I've made liars. And whatever Sandy is-she's not that."

Rocca didn't argue. But the doubt lingered like fog.

-

Upstairs, Sandy sat at the long oak table, pouring over decrypted files. The journal she'd taken from the Geneva vault lay open beside her, filled with Evelyn Drazen's notes-clinical, cold, obsessive.

She scribbled on a legal pad, connecting names and locations. Marseille was only the epicenter. Other cities were listed: Palermo. Algiers. Istanbul. Like dominos.

But it was one page, toward the end, that chilled her the most.

PROJECT: VALKYRIE-CONTROL SUBJECT FILES.

Name: Cole Rhune

Status: "Terminated-uncontrolled."

Her pen slipped.

Cole... was part of the experiment?

Her eyes scanned faster. Evelyn's clinical tone described neurological injections, monitoring trials, failed calibrations. Cole had been embedded as an Agency plant-but he'd also been a test subject.

He hadn't just died chasing the truth. He'd died because he was the truth.

Footsteps neared.

Sandy slammed the journal shut as Tino entered. He paused, catching the tremor in her hands.

"What happened?"

She looked up, eyes storm-dark. "Cole didn't just investigate Drazen's weapons. He was used to refine them. They injected him with early compounds. Treated him like a lab rat."

Tino's face shifted. Pain. Then fury. "That's why he was always on edge. Why he said he didn't have much time left..."

Sandy nodded. "They weren't just killing him. They were watching him die."

Tino walked to her slowly, knelt beside her chair. His hand found hers-steadying.

"You said you wanted truth," he whispered. "But truth like this... it breaks you."

She swallowed hard. "Then help me put the pieces back together. Help me make it mean something."

"I will," he said. "I swear it."

-

That night, as the mist deepened, a secure line buzzed in the safehouse basement.

Rocca answered.

The voice on the other end was female. Familiar. Cold.

"Tell Knightly that Marseille is a trap."

Rocca tensed. "Who is this?"

"You'll know soon. But if you want Sandy Rhune to survive, you'll pull her out of this."

Click.

-

An hour later, Rocca brought the warning to Tino.

"She didn't give a name."

Tino shook his head. "It was Evelyn. She's baiting us. She wants me paranoid."

Rocca frowned. "Or she's telling the truth, and Marseille is where she plans to bury you."

Tino stared out the window for a long moment. "Then we bury her first."

He turned to Rocca. "Prep for Marseille. We leave at dawn. Full blackout. No signals, no chatter. We go dark."

"And Sandy?"

Tino hesitated. "She comes with us."

Rocca arched a brow. "Even if it kills her?"

Tino met his gaze. "I'll die before I let that happen."

-

Down the hall, Sandy opened Cole's old journal again. She stared at the last entry-one he'd written not as an agent, but as her brother.

> If you find this, Sandy... I'm already gone. But I know you. You won't let them win. Don't become like them. Burn them down, yes-but stay you. Because that's the only thing they can't control. She closed the book. And cried- not because she was broken.But because she was ready.