We staggered through the tunnel toward the port access, Alice's limp body dragging my spine into the ground with every step. Salt air mixed with diesel fumes drifted toward us—freedom so close I could taste it.
That's when ARIA cut through the exhaustion like a scalpel.
"Master, new intelligence on the hostages," she said, voice flat, clinical. "Two of these women are significantly more valuable than initial projections indicated."
I frowned. "Define valuable."
"The one you're carrying—Alice Kirkman. She is married to Professor Daniel Kirkman, dean of MIT's Computer Science department. The other... Rebecca Chen is the wife of Professor Chen Wei-Ming, chair of Stanford Engineering."
The words hit harder than gunfire. "The professors who signed off on Charlotte's degrees."
