Chapter 7 #3
Nina took the flash drive from me and plugged it into her laptop. "Give me a second."
"Everything Dr. Reeves had on the research division," I said. "She's been tracking them for months."
"It’s uploading now," Nina called out.
Jean-Marc's eyes went wide as data started appearing on his end. "Holy shit. This is... this is a goldmine. She gathered a lot of information." His fingers were already moving, pulling up windows faster than I could track. "She's been building a case."
"Can you use it?" Aidon asked, moving closer to the screen.
"I can map their entire network with this." Jean-Marc's grin was fierce. "She even has logs of when the research division accesses the main server. Times, dates, file types. This is everything I need to—" He stopped, his expression shifting. "Wait. There might be a way to buy more time."
"How?" I leaned forward.
"If I can access the collective's server, I might be able to corrupt their data. Wipe the maps they've made of the babies, force them to start over."
"Can you do it remotely?" Aidon asked.
"Not without better access to their network." Jean-Marc's expression turned calculating. "But if someone could get me physical proximity to the building, I could hack in through their wireless system. It wouldn't take long—maybe thirty minutes with the right equipment."
Stella and I exchanged glances. "That's a terrible idea," she said.
"Absolutely not," Aidon added.
"I'm not suggesting breaking in," Jean-Marc countered, holding up his hands to the camera. "Just... parking nearby with the right gear. Close enough to piggyback on their signal. I could walk someone through it over the phone, or—"
"We'll think about it," I cut in, which was code for we're probably going to do it, but we need a better plan first. "Anything else from your mom?" I asked Aidon, shifting the subject. She was going to look into the relic they used to collect power.
Aidon's hand found mine, squeezing gently. "She's concerned about the Scythe's energy signature. The way it can bypass wards suggests it was altered from its original design. When someone forces change on a magical artifact, it becomes unpredictable."
We spent another hour dissecting information, building theories, and discarding the ones that didn't fit the evidence.
Jean-Marc stayed on the call, cross-referencing data from his end and occasionally swearing under his breath when he found something particularly damning.
By the time we finally signed off, my head was pounding, and the triplets needed to be fed.
We continued researching Thessmark and the Corvus Medical Group, then ate a delicious dinner of lobster rolls and pasta salad.
After dinner, Aidon and I took the babies up and got them bathed and ready for bed.
While Aidon sang songs in ancient Greek, making the babies coo with sleepy contentment, I stood at the nursery window.
I watched Layla patrol in wolf form, her breath misting in the cold air.
The temperature had dropped significantly, bringing the first real hint of winter.
Aidon finished settling Nyssa and crossed to stand behind me, his arms coming around my waist. "What are you thinking?"
"That we need to be smarter than them." I leaned back against his chest, drawing strength from his solid presence. "They've had years to plan this. We've had days. The only advantage we have is that they don't know we're coming for them."
"We’re going to burn them to the ground.” Aidon’s voice had gone deadly.
I turned in his arms, meeting his eyes. "Jean-Marc can corrupt their data, but that only buys us time. To really stop them, we need to destroy the Scythe. And to do that, we need to find where they're keeping it."
Aidon nodded in agreement. "It’s in the hidden room. It's the only place that makes sense."
"My thoughts exactly. Which means someone needs to get inside that building."
His expression went hard. "Not you."
"I'm not planning to go alone." I cupped his face, feeling the tension in his jaw. "But I am going. Those are our children that they're hunting. Our family they're threatening. I'm not sitting on the sidelines while others fight my battles."
"Phoebe—"
"Don't." I pressed my fingers to his lips. "We both know I'm right. We both know I'm going to do this whether you agree or not. The only question is whether you're going to help me plan it properly or if I'm going to have to improvise."
He stared at me for a long moment, a dozen different emotions crossing his face before settling on resigned acceptance. "You're going to give me gray hair."
"You're immortal. You don't get gray hair."
"I'll find a way out of spite." His arms tightened around me, and I felt his surrender in the way he pressed his forehead to mine. "We plan this carefully. We stack every advantage we can. And we don't go until we're ready."
"Agreed," I said, even though we both knew ‘ready’ might never come.
Outside, Layla howled a long, mournful sound that carried across the property. Tarja's ears pricked forward, her tail going still. "What is it?" I asked.
“She found something at the western border. Fresh tracks from multiple individuals.”
Aidon's shadows erupted from his skin, flooding the room with darkness before he reined them in. "How many people?"
“She's counting now. At least six. Maybe more.”
My hands curled into fists, teal fire sparking at my fingertips before I forced it down. The babies were sleeping peacefully behind us. Completely unaware of the threat outside, and I wanted to keep it that way.
"Get everyone on alert," Aidon ordered, already moving toward the door. "And somebody call Tseki. If they're coming in numbers, we need all the firepower we can get."
I took one last look at my sleeping children, at their tiny faces peaceful in slumber, and made myself a promise. Whatever was coming, whoever was out there planning to take them, they would have to go through me first. And I would burn the whole world down before I let that happen.