Chapter 53 Jase
Jase
The building looks clean.
Glass. Steel. Soft lighting. No visible guards. No alarms screaming at us the second we step onto the grounds.
Which means one thing.
“It’s watching us,” I murmur.
Mila doesn’t look at me.
“Yeah,” she says quietly. “I know.”
Daniel moves ahead, straight toward a side access panel like he’s been here before.
Maybe he has.
Wouldn’t surprise me.
Wouldn’t comfort me either.
“Thirty seconds,” he says, pulling a slim device from his pocket and connecting it to the panel. “Once this opens, we’re inside their perimeter.”
“Meaning?” Jonah asks from behind us.
“Meaning we stop existing on the outside,” Daniel replies. “And start existing on the inside.”
Cal huffs. “That doesn’t sound better.”
“It’s not.”
The device hums softly.
Lights on the panel flicker.
Then—
Green.
The door clicks.
Unlocked.
Ethan doesn’t hesitate.
“Go.”
We move.
Fast.
Silent.
Controlled.
Inside—
Everything changes.
The air is cooler.
Filtered.
Too perfect.
Hallways stretch out in both directions, spotless and empty, like no one’s been here in hours.
Or like they’ve been waiting.
“Split,” Ethan whispers. “Ronan, Cal—left. Jonah, with me. Jase, Mila, Daniel—center.”
Perfect.
Exactly where I want to be.
I fall into step beside Mila as we move down the central corridor, Daniel just ahead of us.
“Tell me you’ve got more than just a map in your head,” I murmur to him.
“I’ve got access,” he says without looking back.
“Same thing?”
“Not even close.”
Good answer.
Still watching him.
Always watching him.
We reach a junction.
Daniel slows.
Raises a hand.
Stops.
Instantly, we freeze.
No sound.
No movement.
Nothing.
Then—
Footsteps.
Distant.
Getting closer.
Mila shifts slightly beside me, weapon already up.
I angle just enough to cover the opposite side.
Daniel presses back against the wall, eyes locked down the corridor.
Two guards round the corner.
Talking.
Relaxed.
They don’t expect us.
That’s their mistake.
Daniel doesn’t fire.
Doesn’t signal.
He just moves.
Fast.
Silent.
Lethal.
He closes the distance before they even register what’s happening—one hand snapping up, striking the first guard’s throat while the other hand drives a blade clean and precise into the second.
No shots.
No noise.
Two bodies drop.
Gone.
Just like that.
Mila exhales quietly.
“Efficient.”
“Necessary,” Daniel replies.
I step forward, checking the hallway.
Clear.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” I mutter.
He glances back briefly.
“You’re not my problem.”
Yeah.
We’ll see about that.
“Move,” Mila whispers.
We continue deeper.
The building shifts as we go—less glass, more reinforced walls, tighter security points.
This is the real facility.
The part they don’t show anyone.
Daniel stops at another door.
This one—
Different.
Heavier.
Biometric panel.
Retinal scanner.
Keypad.
All of it.
“This is it,” he says. “Core access.”
Jonah’s voice crackles softly over comms.
“We’re in position on the west side.”
Ethan follows.
“Minimal resistance so far.”
“Same here,” I reply quietly. “At the door.”
“Make it fast,” Ronan says. “I don’t like how quiet this is.”
Yeah.
Join the club.
Daniel steps up to the panel.
Places his hand flat against the scanner.
Nothing happens.
He exhales once.
Then looks at Mila.
“I need the drive.”
I step in instantly.
“No.”
His eyes flick to me.
Sharp.
“If we don’t link it, we don’t get in.”
“Find another way.”
“There isn’t one.”
Mila steps between us.
Of course she does.
Always stepping into the middle.
“Enough,” she says quietly.
Her gaze locks onto mine.
Steady.
Trusting.
“Jase.”
I don’t like it.
Don’t like any part of it.
But I trust her.
More than anyone.
Always have.
I exhale.
Step back.
Barely.
“Make it fast,” I say.
She nods once.
Then pulls the device from its case.
Careful.
Controlled.
Like it’s the most dangerous thing in the world.
Because it is.
She hands it to Daniel.
And for half a second—
Everything holds.
Because this is it.
The moment.
The point of no return.
Daniel connects the device.
The system lights up instantly.
Red.
Then—
Flashing.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED
Yeah.
Of course.
“Working on it,” Daniel mutters, fingers flying across the interface.
“Define working,” I say.
“Not failing yet.”
Comforting.
Very comforting.
The system shifts.
Lines of code flood the screen.
Security layers stacking.
Trying to lock him out.
Trying to shut us down.
Mila leans in slightly.
“What do you need?”
“Time.”
We don’t have that.
Footsteps echo in the distance again.
More this time.
Faster.
“They know,” I say.
“Yeah,” Mila replies. “They definitely know.”
“Almost there,” Daniel says.
The panel flashes—
Red.
Red.
Red—
Then—
Green.
The door unlocks.
Heavy.
Final.
“Go!” I snap.
We move instantly.
Through the door.
Inside—
And the moment we cross the threshold—
Alarms explode.
Loud.
Piercing.
No more stealth.
No more quiet.
“Guess we’re done sneaking,” I mutter.
Mila smirks slightly.
“About time.”
Behind us, the door slams shut.
Locking.
Sealing.
Trapping us inside the heart of it all.
I glance at her.
At Daniel.
At the war we just walked into.
“Let’s finish this.”