Chapter Thirty-Three #5
Corwin stared at Taddeo. “You knew the terminal security might be compromised and still brought her here.”
“She knew about the unauthorized substitutions before we left.” Taddeo kept his voice controlled because Corwin’s anger did not make the premise beneath it correct. “She chose to come after I told her she could refuse.”
Corwin looked immediately at his sister. “You knew there might be an ambush and came anyway?”
“I knew the roster had been compromised and that Taddeo had built another security layer around it.” Isolde held his gaze. “He gave me the information. I decided the reasons I had for being here were worth the risk.”
Corwin’s expression shifted through anger, disbelief, and then reluctant recalculation as he looked from Isolde toward Taddeo.
Orsino extended one hand across the table. “If everyone has finished reviewing the development of personal autonomy under hostile conditions, I still need the second drive before the people who may be trying to kill us become better organized.”
Corwin handed it over.
Taddeo returned his attention to the terminal.
Russo remained at communications, one hand moving across the console while the other touched his earpiece. For several seconds nothing happened.
Then Russo glanced toward the utility building.
Kallis moved closer to the fenced electrical structure.
The coordination was subtle.
It was enough.
Taddeo touched the hidden transmitter twice.
Marco shifted several feet toward south vehicle control as if casually checking an official guard, actually improving his line toward both Russo and Kallis. None of the hidden men revealed themselves.
Nico’s voice came through the receiver less than ten seconds later. “Russo just transmitted outside the official Bellandi frequencies. Short-range encrypted burst. Not ours and not on the published radio plan.”
Taddeo kept Russo in peripheral vision. “Recipient?”
“Unknown. Range is limited, which means on site or immediately outside the perimeter. Burst started twelve seconds after Orsino connected stage two.”
The timing clarified more than another background file could have.
Whoever controlled Russo had waited until the second drive reached Bellandi hands.
Or until Corwin surrendered the last thing making his survival useful.
Taddeo looked toward Isolde.
She was already watching him rather than Russo, one hand close to Corwin’s arm while her weight had shifted subtly over her feet. The loading wall stood behind her exactly where she had memorized it.
Good.
She had listened.
“Orsino,” Taddeo said quietly, keeping the instruction within the immediate group, “once the second drive authenticates, isolate it completely and cut the external verification tunnel. Corwin, your driver does not move until Marco or I confirm the west route.”
Corwin’s mouth tightened. “If Russo belongs to Lelio, my driver is exposed.”
“He has vehicle cover and a western exit that remains clear.” Taddeo kept his attention on the terminal. “Moving him before we know what Russo is doing tells every compromised man here that we found them.”
Isolde shifted slightly nearer the concrete barrier. “The wall is six steps behind me, and I remember the north route if that is cut off.”
“Yes.” Taddeo almost told her to stay exactly where he had placed her and caught the reflex before it became language. “If you decide you need the wall before I tell you, use it. Do not wait for permission.”
Something moved across her face.
There was no time to understand it.
Russo’s right hand disappeared beneath the communications table.
For one second the black-stone ring remained visible against the edge before vanishing.
He looked toward the utility building again.
Kallis reached for the chain-link gate.
Nico’s voice came immediately through the secondary channel. “Second encrypted burst. Utility position just changed. Hidden east team has Kallis covered.”
Marco moved half a pace closer.
Corwin’s driver straightened near the van, finally recognizing enough tension in the yard to understand that something had changed.
Orsino’s laptop produced the first authentication response from the second drive.
Taddeo looked across the forty yards separating him from Russo.
Russo looked up.
Their eyes met.
Recognition arrived almost imperceptibly in the other man’s face, but Taddeo saw it. Whether Russo noticed Marco’s altered position, Taddeo’s stillness, or some minute signal between the people around the table did not matter. He understood that the roster manipulation had failed.
Taddeo’s hand moved inside his coat toward his weapon while his other touched the hidden transmitter.
Russo ducked beneath the communications table.
The terminal floodlights died.
Darkness slammed across the loading apron so completely that the warehouses, Corwin’s van, the concrete wall, and every visible Bellandi position disappeared at once.
Metal crashed somewhere near the utility fence, somebody shouted through the sudden blackness, and Terminal Fourteen vanished into exactly the kind of chaos Taddeo had spent the entire night preparing to survive.