2:37 PM – Outskirts of Novar Ridge
The SUV rumbled over broken asphalt and dirt as the skyline of the city faded behind them. Kairo sat forward in the passenger seat, scanning every ridge, every shadow. He could feel it — they were being watched.
In the back, Alicia stared at her tablet, tracking the GPS signal tied to her father's old bunker. Each mile closer made her heart beat faster, not from fear — but from doubt. If Elias Morgan really did help Tang build its first trafficking route… then what else had he lied about?
Silas cracked his neck as he drove.
"If this place is even half what he built it to be, it'll be more secure than the damn Organization HQ."
"I don't care if it's a palace," Kairo muttered. "We don't stop until we know who's following us."
Suddenly — static on the comms.
"Subject 731. Can you hear me?"
Kairo's blood ran cold. He reached for the comm line.
"Who is this?"
"You're close. I can see you. You don't know me… but you know his face."
"Whose?"
The voice paused.
"The man who raised me… raised you, too. We were the first. You were the last."
Kairo froze.
Silas looked over.
"Kairo?"
Kairo didn't answer. His mind was flashing back — the dream, the smoke, the man standing beside Crowe.
His father.
3:14 PM – Elias Morgan's Bunker
They reached it an hour later. A half-collapsed barn hid the elevator shaft leading underground — three stories deep, sealed behind biometric security.
Alicia placed her hand on the scanner. It blinked green.
Access granted.
They stepped inside.
What they found was… strange.
The shelter was untouched, sterile. Screens still active. Power grid humming. Stockpiles of old hard drives and off-grid weapons. One wall was filled with news clippings — all tied to Tang, to the Organization, to Project Echo.
Kairo stared at a familiar document pinned in the center.
His birth certificate.
With a signature at the bottom.
"Dr. Elias Morgan."
He turned to Alicia, stunned.
"Your father… signed off on my birth."
Alicia's face went pale.
"No… that's not possible. My father wasn't a—"
"He was a lead designer," Kairo said, voice hollow. "He didn't just help build Tang. He helped build me."
Meanwhile – Tang Forward Ops Unit
Mao stood over the map, finger tracing Alicia's route.
"She took them straight to the bunker."
The younger grunt frowned. "You want us to breach it?"
Mao shook his head. "No. We don't breach. We wait until they breathe deep — then we cut the air off."
He looked out the window.
"And we take the girl. Alive."
5:22 PM – Bunker Security Feed
Alarms blared.
Kairo sprinted to the console. "We've got movement — outside perimeter, at least six targets, armed."
Silas chambered a round. "They followed us."
Alicia pulled up a satellite feed. "They're Tang — I recognize the markings."
Kairo looked to her. "You've been trained. You know how to fight?"
She met his eyes, calm and clear.
"No. But I know how to win."
They began sealing the exits. Kairo set remote charges at the elevator shaft. Silas prepped defensive measures — gas masks, flashbangs, fallback routes.
Then the lights cut out.
All at once.
Kairo's comm crackled.
"You should've run when you had the chance."
Mao.
"She's worth more than you know, Vale. And if you don't give her up… we'll take her limb by limb."
Kairo closed his eyes for half a second.
Then said:
"Come and try."
6:04 PM – Breach
Tang operatives descended through the air vent system — the only unsealed route. That's when Kairo's trap triggered.
Flashbangs. Gas. Darkness.
Kairo moved through the chaos like a ghost, taking down the first three with brutal precision — silenced pistol to the chest, elbow to the throat, knee to the spine.
Silas covered Alicia, taking fire from the eastern wing. But something was off — the attack was too focused. They weren't after Kairo.
They were after her.
Then he heard it:
"She's the heir! Take her alive!"
He turned.
Too late.
A Tang operative tackled Alicia, knocking her down and deploying a stun device. Silas fired — but missed.
The smoke swallowed them.
And when it cleared… she was gone.
6:27 PM – Silence
Kairo stood alone in the bunker, covered in blood, gasping.
The operatives were dead or gone.
But so was Alicia.
He picked up her tablet — the last signal from her tracker blinking red on the screen.
Silas limped over.
"They took her."
Kairo nodded slowly, eyes empty.
"Not just because she's leverage," he said. "Because she's blood."
Silas frowned. "What?"
Kairo turned the tablet to him. The screen showed a fragmented family tree — one of the old data logs from Project Echo.
Elias Morgan wasn't just a scientist.
He was a father. Of two.
Alicia Morgan
Kairo Vale
Half-siblings.
Kairo whispered:
"We weren't just made in the same lab…"
"…We're family."