71. Sienna
Sienna
E ight minutes.
Eight minutes until sixteen children die.
Eight minutes until Elizabeth dies.
Eight minutes until Kade wins.
The countdown flashes across every monitor in the room like a heartbeat from hell.
00:08:12
Jonah still has Kade pinned against the wall hard enough that powder from the cinder blocks falls onto his shoulders.
And somehow—
Kade still looks calm.
That’s the part that terrifies me most.
Not the guns.
Not the countdown.
Him.
Because Elias Kade only looks calm when he believes he already owns the ending.
“No,” I whisper.
My fingers tighten around the edge of the terminal.
Think.
Think.
There’s always a weakness.
Always.
Kade built systems like mirrors of himself.
Layered.
Paranoid.
Controlling.
But ego always leaves fingerprints.
And then—
I see it.
Tiny.
Buried beneath the active authorization tree.
A secondary relay branch.
Hidden behind the biometric tether.
Hope slams into me so hard my knees almost give out.
“Oh my God.”
Vale hears it immediately.
“What did you find?”
I move fast.
Code flies across the monitor.
The hidden branch unfolds.
Encrypted pathways bloom across the screen like veins.
And there—
A second authorization signature.
Not Kade’s.
My pulse spikes violently.
“No way…”
Jonah looks toward me instantly while still holding Kade against the wall.
“Sienna?”
I stare at the screen.
At the identifier attached to the hidden protocol.
Then slowly look toward Vale.
His face changes immediately.
Pure dread.
“Kade couldn’t risk being the only key holder,” I whisper.
Kade’s calm expression finally flickers.
Barely.
But I catch it.
“There’s another master authorization.”
Lance blinks.
“In English, nerd squad.”
“It means,” Cal says carefully, “somebody else can override the kill switches.”
“Yes.”
Hope explodes through the room instantly.
Then dies just as fast.
Because I already know the problem.
The second identifier populates fully across the screen.
SUBJECT V-01
My blood turns to ice.
“No…”
Vale closes his eyes briefly.
Like he already knows.
Jonah notices immediately.
“What?”
I can barely get the words out.
“The second key holder…” My voice shakes. “Is Vale.”
The room detonates.
Lance swings his rifle toward Vale instantly.
“You SON OF A—”
“WAIT!” I shout.
But even I don’t fully know if I should trust him.
Vale slowly raises both hands.
Careful.
Measured.
Jonah releases Kade just long enough to pivot toward Vale too.
Deadly.
“What aren’t you telling us?” Jonah says softly.
Vale looks exhausted suddenly.
Not physically.
Soul deep.
“Kade never trusted loyalty,” he says quietly. “Only leverage.”
“Answer the question.”
Vale looks toward Elizabeth.
Pain flashes across his face so fast most people would miss it.
I don’t.
“He made me part of the system after she tried to escape the first time.”
Elizabeth starts crying again.
“Kade said if I failed him…” Vale’s voice tightens. “He would trigger every child in the facility one by one while I watched.”
Silence crashes through the room.
Even Lance lowers his rifle slightly.
Kade smiles faintly from the wall.
“Fear is such an efficient motivator.”
I want to kill him.
God, I want to kill him.
But Jonah beats all of us there.
He turns slowly toward Kade again.
And this time—
There’s murder in his eyes.
Not anger.
Not rage.
Promise.
Kade sees it too.
And for the first time—
His smile falters.
Just slightly.
Good.
Jonah steps closer slowly.
“You hurt children.”
Kade says nothing.
“You tortured Elizabeth.”
Still nothing.
“You put a bomb inside innocent people.”
Kade lifts his chin slightly.
“They were necessary.”
Jonah nods once.
Like he just made peace with something inside himself.
Then he looks at me.
“Sienna.”
My pulse jumps.
“Can Vale stop the countdown?”
I look at the screen.
At the split authorization pathways.
At the rapidly dropping timer.
00:06:41
“Yes,” I whisper. “But both key holders have to authorize simultaneously.”
LanceA exhales sharply.
“Well that’s convenient.”
Kade smiles again.
“There’s the problem.”
Because he already knows.
Nobody in this room will willingly let him touch a terminal.
But without him—
The children die.
And somewhere deep in the compound—
A little girl starts screaming for her mother through the monitors.