Chapter 80 Lark
Lark
“He’s going to move,” I say.
Not a guess.
A certainty.
Ethan Cross leans against the table, arms folded, eyes sharp.
“Why?”
“Because his model says I’ll shut it down,” I reply. “Containment. Collapse. Clean resolution.”
I shake my head slightly.
“When I don’t…”
Now I can feel it.
That shift.
That disruption in his logic.
“He won’t understand why.”
Aaron watches me closely. “And that makes him do what?”
I meet his gaze.
“It pulls him out of hiding.”
A beat.
“He’ll need to see it himself.”
Right on cue—
Ronan inhales sharply behind us.
Not loud.
But sharp enough to cut through everything.
“I’ve got him.”
The room stills.
“Location?” Aaron asks.
Ronan’s fingers move fast, locking coordinates.
“Secure facility. Swiss border. Alpine relay station. High-altitude infrastructure node—isolated, hardened, minimal external traffic.”
Lance Levine exhales a quiet laugh.
“Of course,” he says. “Man builds a world-ending system and lives in a villain lair.”
No one argues.
Because it fits.
Perfectly.
Aaron is already moving.
No hesitation.
No pause.
“Teams?”
Cal steps forward, eyes on the map, already calculating insertion angles.
“We’re ten minutes out,” he says. “Helicopter drop puts us just outside thermal range. Ground approach from there.”
Jace rolls his shoulders, cracking his knuckles like he’s been waiting for this exact moment.
“Plenty of time,” he mutters.
A slow, dangerous grin spreads across his face.
“To ruin his whole career.”
Lark doesn’t smile.
Because she knows—
This isn’t just about ending him.
It’s about ending what he built.
Before it ends everything else.