77. Sienna
Sienna
“ Y ou never found Lily.”
The room goes cold.
Every alarm.
Every gunshot.
Every countdown clock suddenly feels distant compared to those four words.
My pulse stumbles hard.
No.
No no no—
Because I know that name.
Buried deep.
Locked away.
Hidden under years of trauma and survival and denial.
Lily.
Oh God.
The memory hits so violently my knees nearly give out.
A little girl sitting beneath a desk during a blackout.
Tiny hands over her ears.
Curly blonde hair.
Big gray eyes.
“Don’t let him take me…”
I stagger backward.
Jonah catches me instantly.
“Sienna.”
But I can barely hear him.
Because suddenly I remember.
The hidden wing.
The one section of Oracle even I wasn’t allowed inside.
The one room Kade always locked personally.
My blood turns to ice.
“She’s still alive,” I whisper.
Kade smiles slowly.
“Very good.”
Rage detonates through me.
“You kept a CHILD hidden for four years?!”
“She was important.”
“She was a little girl!”
“She was exceptional.”
The way he says it makes me want to vomit.
Elizabeth is crying again behind us.
“She was the youngest one,” she whispers weakly. “He said Lily was his future.”
Jonah’s body goes completely still beside me.
Deadly still.
The kind of stillness that comes right before violence.
“Where is she?” he asks softly.
Kade tilts his head.
“You think I’d tell you?”
The countdown drops again.
00:00:21
Twenty-one seconds.
Seventeen visible timers.
One missing child.
And Kade still thinks he controls this story.
Then suddenly—
The entire compound shakes.
Hard.
Everybody freezes.
Another explosion follows immediately after.
Closer.
Bigger.
Dust rains from the ceiling.
The hostiles outside stop firing.
Confused shouting erupts through the corridor.
Cal looks up sharply.
“What the hell was that?”
Then—
A familiar voice crackles through comms.
Cold.
Calm.
Lethal.
“Miss us?”
My heart nearly stops.
Lance’s face lights up instantly.
“Oh, THANK GOD.”
Automatic gunfire erupts somewhere above us.
Different this time.
Precise.
Controlled.
Professional.
Screams follow immediately after.
Hostiles dropping fast.
Cal grins savagely.
“That’s our boys.”
Kade’s expression changes for the first time tonight.
Not fear.
Concern.
Good.
Very good.
The comm crackles again.
“Ronan Pierce,” the voice says calmly. “We’re inside the compound.”
Another explosion rocks the hallway.
Then Aaron Cole’s voice cuts through next.
“Whole place is crawling with armed psychos. Which one do we shoot first?”
Lance practically laughs.
“ALL OF THEM!”
More gunfire.
Closer now.
Fast tactical movement.
Delta Five.
And suddenly the energy inside the room shifts completely.
Because predators just entered the building.
Kade realizes it too.
His eyes narrow slightly.
Interesting.
Maybe he finally understands he’s losing.
Then Jonah steps closer to him slowly.
And smiles for the very first time.
Cold.
Dangerous.
“You’re in trouble now.”
But Kade suddenly laughs softly.
Actually laughs.
Because of course he does.
“Too late.”
Every monitor in the room flashes blood red.
FINAL AUTHORIZATION LOCKED
00:00:10
Ten seconds.
Sienna flies toward the terminal.
Vale beside her instantly.
Hands moving frantically.
Code exploding across the screens.
“No no no—”
“It’s locked!”
Kade watches us calmly.
“Oracle protects itself.”
Jonah grabs him violently.
“You stop it NOW.”
“I can’t.”
The answer comes too fast.
Too honest.
And suddenly—
I realize the horrifying truth.
Kade didn’t just build the system.
He lost control of it.