Chapter 54
Unknown
“She’s preparing a release.”
“Yes.”
“And the SEAL?”
“He’ll try to stop it.”
A pause.
Longer this time.
Almost thoughtful.
“Good.”
The man steps closer to the central display.
Multiple feeds now.
Layered.
Overlapping.
Lisbon.
Vienna aftermath.
A secondary location—flagged, isolated, time-stamped.
“And Pierce?” the second voice asks.
“Marked.”
“And the other one?”
“Aaron?” A faint smile. “Predictable.”
“How so?”
“He will try to save both.”
“That’s not possible.”
“No,” the man agrees.
“It isn’t.”
The system shifts.
Timers appear.
Not one.
Several.
Staggered.
Interlocked.
“Then we’re ready,” the second voice says.
“We’ve been ready,” the man replies.
A beat.
“Do we intervene?”
The man considers that.
Just for a moment.
Then shakes his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because this is the moment where they break themselves.”
His gaze fixes on one screen in particular.
Lark.
Framed in data and light.
At the center of everything.
“If she chooses the truth,” he says softly, “we destroy her.”
“And if she chooses the protector?”
A flicker of something colder.
More final.
“Then we destroy everything else.”
Silence.
Then—
“Either way…”
The man’s smile returns.
Sharp.
Certain.
“We win.”