Ch.50: The Capture

The city was a corpse. Streetlights were dead. Buildings were monoliths of black glass against a smoke-choked sky. The only light came from the fires burning in Sector 4, where the riots had started.

Julian drove fast, navigating the chaos with cold precision. Silas was in the back, checking his gear. I sat in the passenger seat, clutching the tablet like a shield.

"Miller said he had a contact," I said, checking the encrypted message app on the tablet. "Someone who can get us into the power station. A maintenance engineer."

"It's risky," Julian said. "Sterling will have the perimeter locked down."

"It's the only way in," I said. "The main gates are fortified. The service tunnels are flooded. We need a keycard."

The coordinates led us to an old diner on the edge of the industrial zone. It was dark, abandoned.

"Wait here," I said.

"I'm coming with you," Julian said, reaching for the door handle.

"No," I stopped him. "If this is a trap, they'll be looking for you. I'm just the lawyer. I'm less of a threat."

"You're the one who exposed them," Julian argued. "You're the primary target."

"And you're the one who knows how to stop the reset code," I countered. "If they take me, the mission continues. If they take you, the city dies."

He looked at me. His jaw tightened. He knew I was right.

"Five minutes," he said. "Then I'm coming in."

I stepped out of the SUV. The air was cold, smelling of burning rubber. I walked toward the diner, my hand in my pocket, gripping the stun baton.

Inside, it was pitch black.

"Hello?" I whispered.

A figure stepped out from the shadows of the kitchen. A woman in a maintenance uniform.

"Are you the contact?" I asked.

"I'm the one who fixes the mess," she said.

Her voice was familiar.

I shone my flashlight.

It wasn't a maintenance worker. It was Kael.

"You," I breathed. "You're helping us?"

"I told you," Kael said, stepping closer. "I'm done being a ghost."

She held out a keycard.

"This will get you into the sub-basement. From there, you can access the main breakers."

I reached for it.

But as my fingers touched the plastic, I felt a sharp prick in my neck.

I spun around.

Mia was standing behind me, a syringe in her hand. She was smiling. Not the fake, scared smile she used on TV. A genuine, cruel smile.

"Hello, sister," she whispered.

My legs gave way. The room spun.

"Kael?" I gasped, looking at the fixer.

Kael looked down at me. Her expression was unreadable.

"I'm sorry, Harper," she said. "But Sterling made a better offer."

"She didn't sell you out for money," Mia said, leaning over me as my vision blurred. "She sold you out for immunity. Kael gets to walk away clean. And I get to finish what I started."

I tried to reach for the baton, but my arms wouldn't move. The paralysis was spreading fast.

"Where is he?" Mia asked, her voice echoing as if from a great distance. "Where is Julian?"

I tried to speak, to warn him, but only a garbled moan came out.

"It doesn't matter," Mia said, stroking my hair. "We'll find him. But first... we're going to have a little family reunion."

She nodded to Kael.

Two men stepped out of the darkness. They grabbed my arms.

I saw the SUV through the window. Julian was watching. He saw me fall.

He opened the door. He raised his gun.

But it was too late.

The bag went over my head. The last thing I heard was Mia's laugh.