Chapter 27 #2
The casual cruelty of it made my eyes burn with unshed tears. Every lunch we’d shared, every late-night debugging or gossiping session, every moment I’d thought I’d finally found someone—someone funny and witty and cool—who liked me… All of it had been a lie.
Even through the shock, my brain couldn’t stop analyzing, connecting dots that suddenly formed a devastating picture.
“You embedded the tracking software into the Cascade Protocol before the FBI handoff,” I said, forcing my voice to steady, forcing my mind to work through the pain.
“That’s why it started exactly six months ago. ”
Darcy grimaced, the first sign of genuine frustration I’d seen from her.
“I had to build it out piece by piece, and it took forever for it to actually work. I couldn’t risk asking you about some of the more difficult implementation details—you would’ve been suspicious if I showed too much interest in the security protocols.
” She gestured with a gun she had pulled out of the back of her waistband, casual as if we were discussing a routine debugging session.
“That’s why it took so long for me to gain full access to the FBI systems. But once I did, everything fell into place.
It was just a matter of finding partners with the right connections to move the Protocol on the black market. ”
“Partners.” The word tasted bitter. “You mean terrorists.”
“That’s your fault, Charlotte.” Her voice hardened again.
“If you hadn’t been such a bleeding-heart goody-goody, none of this would have been necessary.
We could have controlled the rollout, sold to stable governments, maintained oversight.
Instead, you had to hand it all over to the FBI like a good little patriot. ”
She pointed at Donovan’s still form, and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing, couldn’t see if his chest was moving. The blood beneath his head had stopped spreading, but I didn’t know if that was good or bad.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” Darcy continued. “Nobody had to get hurt.”
“You’re working with people who want to use it as a weapon of mass destruction! How exactly would nobody get hurt?!”
“I’m working with people who understand the value of what you created.
” She kept the gun trained on me with steady hands.
“Though, I should mention—I’m not the bad guy here.
Not entirely. Do you want to know something?
When my partners found out you were creating the countermeasure, they wanted to kill you outright.
One bullet, problem solved, no more stabilizer code. ”
My blood turned to ice. Ty had been afraid it would escalate to that. But evidently, it had started as that.
“But I convinced them otherwise,” Darcy continued, and there was something almost like pride in her voice.
“I told them Charlotte Gifford’s mind was too valuable to waste.
You’re worth more than any weapon, Charlotte.
The person who can create the next Cascade Protocol, and the next one after that.
Years of breakthrough weapons, each one more powerful than the last.”
“I’d never—”
“You’d be surprised what people will do with the right motivation.
” Her tone turned practical, businesslike.
“My partners aren’t going to be happy that you’ve already initialized the stabilizer code.
They have tempers, and they’re not the most reasonable people.
But I’m fairly certain I can keep you alive. Probably.”
She paused, and something darker crept into her expression.
“Your boyfriend and his team of heroes, though? Because the second I found you here, I knew that whoever is pretending to be a buyer in that warehouse has to be undercover—Ty’s people or FBI or both—and they’re definitely not making it out alive.”
“No—”
“Oh yes. My partners’ team is probably already moving into position. The moment your fake buyer tries to leave with the Protocol, or the moment FBI agents move in, it’s going to be a bloodbath.”
I couldn’t breathe. Ty and Ethan, all of the Citadel team, were in the middle of a trap because of me, because I’d trusted the wrong person, because I’d been so desperate for a friend that I’d ignored every instinct—
I had to warn them. Had to get to the comms unit.
I turned and ran.
Or tried to.
One of Darcy’s men moved faster than I could track, catching me before I’d made it two steps. His hand tangled in my hair, yanking me backward with enough force to make me see stars. Then he slammed me face first into the wall.
Pain exploded across my vision, white-hot and disorienting. I tasted copper—blood from where I’d bitten my tongue. The room spun as he pulled me back, his grip still twisted in my hair.
“Pack it up,” Darcy ordered, gesturing at my laptop with her gun. “Everything. And, Charlotte? Don’t try anything clever. You might be irreplaceable, but that doesn’t mean I won’t put a bullet in your knee if you make this difficult.”
With shaking hands, I closed the laptop, coiled the cables, packed everything into the case I’d brought. The stabilizer code, all my work, now in the hands of someone who would sell it—and me—to the highest bidder.
“Good girl,” Darcy said with mock approval. “Now, let’s go meet my partners. I’m sure they’ll be eager to discuss your future contributions to our organization.”
The man holding me shoved me toward the door. As we passed Donovan, I tried to see if he was breathing, tried to spot any sign of life.
Nothing.
We moved down the hallway, Darcy’s men flanking me with their weapons drawn. Behind us, Darcy followed at a casual pace, as if we were heading to lunch instead of marching toward a warehouse full of killers.
Every step took me closer to whatever trap Darcy and her partners had set—and further from any chance of warning Ty about what was coming.