27. Wynn
WYNN
“General Kane sends his regards.”
The man in the Turkish officer’s uniform smiled as though the words were a courtesy.
They weren’t.
They were a death sentence.
Lucas moved in front of me.
He had done it so many times that night it had become instinctive.
His body.
His weapon.
His life between me and the threat.
The false officer looked at the rifle in Lucas’s hands.
“You won’t survive long enough to fire.”
Red targeting lasers appeared across Lucas’s chest.
Then Adam’s.
Hawk’s.
Boone’s.
Russ’s.
Armed soldiers surrounded the aircraft.
Some wore Turkish military uniforms.
Others wore black tactical gear without insignia.
Meridian.
The two forces stood together.
General Kane’s reach wasn’t limited to American command.
He had allies everywhere.
Adam slowly raised his hands.
“Brave, lower your weapons.”
Lucas didn’t move.
“They’ll kill us anyway.”
“Probably,” Adam said calmly. “But not before we find out why they haven’t already.”
The officer’s gaze settled on the metal tag hanging against Lucas’s chest.
I understood.
They still needed the encryption key.
And they needed me alive to access the safety-deposit box.
Lucas and I were the only reason the Brave hadn’t been slaughtered the second the aircraft landed.
I touched his back.
“Lower it.”
He glanced over his shoulder.
“No.”
“They need us alive.”
“They need you alive.”
My heart twisted.
He thought his own life had already been forfeited.
“Then don’t give them a reason to separate us.”
His silver eyes held mine.
I could see the fight inside him.
The soldier wanted to attack.
The husband wanted to protect me.
Slowly, he lowered his rifle.
The rest of the Brave followed.
Soldiers flooded the cabin.
They tore weapons from hands.
Ripped radios from vests.
Searched every man.
One soldier removed Ghost’s evidence drive and handed it to the false officer.
Another reached for the metal tag around Lucas’s neck.
Lucas caught his wrist.
Three rifles rose toward his head.
“Lucas,” Adam warned.
For one terrible second, I thought he would fight.
Then he released the soldier.
The chain was pulled over Lucas’s head.
The false officer examined the tag before sealing it inside a pouch attached to his vest.
The key was gone.
One soldier grabbed me.
Lucas moved so fast that three rifles rose toward his head again.
“Take your hands off her.”
The soldier tightened his grip.
The false officer smiled.
“Your concern for Mrs. Spencer is becoming predictable.”
Lucas’s face turned cold.
“Good. Then you’ll know exactly what happens if you touch her again.”
The soldier looked toward the officer.
He received a small nod.
Then released me.
Lucas immediately pulled me against his side.
The false officer climbed farther into the cabin.
Up close, I noticed more problems with his uniform.
The service ribbons didn’t match.
The rank insignia had been positioned incorrectly.
He wasn’t Turkish military.
He was wearing a costume.
“You don’t belong to this army,” I said.
His smile faded slightly.
“What makes you say that?”
“Your uniform.”
He glanced down.
“A journalist who understands military decorations?”
“A journalist who pays attention.”
Boone leaned toward Russ.
“She always did ruin surprises.”
Russ nodded.
“Birthday parties were exhausting.”
The officer ignored them.
“I am Colonel Ahmet Demir.”
“No, you aren’t.”
His eyes hardened.
“I’ve interviewed Colonel Demir. You’re not him.”
A flicker of anger crossed his face.
Lucas almost smiled.
“Problem?”
The man struck Lucas across the mouth.
I lunged.
A soldier caught me around the waist.
Lucas turned back slowly.
Blood ran from his split lip.
His silver eyes were terrifying.
The false colonel stepped closer.
“You are alive because General Kane requires the key. Once we deliver it to Minser…”
He looked at me.
“Your wife will watch you die.”
Lucas smiled.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the man had made a mistake.
“You shouldn’t have told me that.”
“Why?”
“Now I know exactly how long I have to kill you.”
The officer’s confidence faltered.
Only for a second.
Then he motioned toward the doors.
“Secure them and move.”
Plastic restraints were locked around our wrists.
Mine and Lucas’s were secured in front while the team’s were fastened behind their backs.
We were marched from the aircraft.
The private airfield sat inside a narrow valley surrounded by forest.
Two hangars stood near the runway.
A small control tower rose behind them.
No city lights.
No nearby roads.
Nothing that would attract witnesses.
The perfect place to make people disappear.
Ghost walked ahead of us.
His hands were secured behind his back.
The false colonel caught his shoulder and spun him around.
“You were difficult to find.”
Ghost stared at him.
“You should’ve looked in the mirror.”
The officer frowned.
Ghost smiled.
“You’re wearing my friend’s uniform.”
I looked again.
The uniform didn’t merely contain mistakes.
It didn’t fit.
The sleeves were too long.
The shoulders too broad.
It had been taken from someone else.
The real Colonel Demir.
Ghost’s contact.
“Where is he?” Ghost demanded.
The officer smiled.
“Inside.”
Ghost’s face revealed nothing.
But something changed in his eyes.
Fear.
We were forced toward the larger hangar.
Lucas walked beside me.
Our shoulders touched.
I brushed my bound fingers against his.
Once.
He looked at me.
I nodded toward the officer’s belt.
A key card hung beside his holster.
The pouch containing Lucas’s tag was secured above it.
Lucas saw both.
Then looked toward the hangar.
Not yet.
I understood.
Wait.
Trust.
Together.
The hangar doors opened.
Bright lights blinded me.
When my vision cleared, I stopped walking.
More than a dozen people sat along one wall with their hands restrained.
Airfield workers.
Mechanics.
Two women.
An elderly man wearing part of a Turkish military uniform.
His face was bruised.
I recognized him immediately.
“Colonel Demir.”
Ghost exhaled.
His contact was alive.
Near the center of the hangar stood four large metal crates.
Black.
Unmarked.
Cooling systems hummed inside them.
Thick cables connected each crate to a portable generator.
Lucas stared.
“The servers.”
Ghost nodded.
“Fate.”
My pulse accelerated.
The active Fate system wasn’t in Geneva.
It was here.
The encrypted drive inside the safety-deposit box wasn’t the weapon itself.
It held the original code and the evidence capable of exposing everyone who controlled it.
Hawk studied the crates.
“They’re moving the system.”
“Where?” Adam asked.
The false colonel smiled.
“Somewhere beyond your reach.”
“Eleven countries aren’t enough?” I asked.
“Eleven were demonstrations.”
“For whom?”
“Clients.”
The word turned my stomach.
Governments had paid Meridian to destabilize other countries.
Wars ordered like weapons.
“How many clients?”
“You’ll never know.”
“I will when I open the Geneva file.”
His smile widened.
“That’s exactly what General Kane expects you to do.”
The hangar doors closed behind us.
Armed men spread across every exit.
The false colonel took a satellite phone from one of his soldiers and initiated a video call.
A man appeared on the screen.
Silver hair.
Military posture.
Four stars on the uniform hanging behind his desk.
General Robert Kane.
Adam stepped forward.
“You betrayed your command.”
Kane looked almost disappointed.
“Commander Stoker. You were always too sentimental for leadership.”
“You built the Brave.”
“I funded it. I selected each man.”
“Why?”
“I needed an operational unit capable of responding anywhere in the world without delay.”
“To rescue civilians?”
“To shape outcomes.”
Adam’s expression hardened.
“You used us.”
“I gave you purpose.”
“You gave us lies.”
Kane sighed.
“History is built on lies. The victors simply choose which ones become truth.”
Lucas moved closer to the screen, his bound hands held before him.
“Evan Minser works for you.”
Kane smiled.
“Evan Minser works for himself. That has always been his greatest weakness.”
“Where is he?”
“On his way to Geneva.”
My stomach dropped.
“How long?”
Kane looked at his watch.
“He should arrive within six hours.”
“The bank won’t give him access.”
“No. He needs you.”
Kane leaned toward the camera.
“That is why you’re about to board another aircraft.”
Lucas laughed coldly.
“We’ve crashed the last two.”
“I’m willing to risk it.”
“What happens when we reach Geneva?”
“You and Mrs. Spencer open the box. You provide Minser with the key.”
Lucas looked toward the pouch on the false colonel’s vest.
“And then?”
“You die.”
Kane said it casually.
As though discussing paperwork.
“And Wynn?” Lucas asked.
“That depends on how cooperative she is.”
Lucas stepped closer to the phone.
“Listen carefully. You have spent eight years manipulating my life. You threatened my wife. You destroyed my marriage. You marked my team for death. Before this ends…”
His voice dropped.
“You and I are going to meet.”
Kane smiled.
“I look forward to it.”
The call ended.
The false colonel lowered the phone.
“You depart in twenty minutes.”
Ghost looked toward the server crates.
“Those are going too.”
“Yes.”
“Why move Fate to Geneva?”
The man didn’t answer.
Hawk studied a screen set into the side of the nearest server unit.
Four city names appeared beneath separate operation files.
Paris.
London.
Berlin.
Geneva.
His expression changed.
“Those aren’t destinations.”
“What are they?” I asked.
“Target profiles.”
Silence fell.
Fate didn’t only predict conflict.
It created it.
Four cities.
Four developing operations.
Four coordinated attacks.
“What kind of attacks?” Lucas asked.
Ghost looked toward the containment equipment attached to the servers.
“These modules aren’t only protecting the computer systems.”
Hawk moved toward the nearest crate.
A guard blocked him.
But he had already seen enough.
“Shielded compartments. Independent power. Hazard warning beneath the control panel.”
Boone’s humor disappeared.
“What’s inside?”
Ghost turned toward us.
“A failsafe designed to destroy the system and everyone close enough to recover it.”
The false colonel raised his weapon.
“That’s enough.”
Hawk stared at the four crates.
“If those containment modules activate?—”
“What happens?” I asked.
“It depends on the compound stored inside them. Biological. Chemical. Radiological. There’s no way to know without opening one.”
The false colonel smiled.
“You won’t live long enough to find out.”
One of the generators coughed.
The lights flickered.
Every armed man looked toward the crates.
Fear.
They knew what was inside.
The real Colonel Demir lifted his head from the line of prisoners.
His eyes found Ghost.
Then moved toward the crates.
He tapped his wrist twice and opened his hand.
A warning signal Ghost immediately recognized.
“Containment countdown,” Ghost said.
He looked at Demir.
“How long?”
The real colonel answered in Turkish.
The false officer struck him.
Ghost translated.
“Nineteen minutes.”
“Until what?” Adam asked.
“The containment modules open.”
The hum from the units changed.
Deepened.
A red light appeared on the first.
Then the second.
The third.
The fourth.
The false colonel backed toward the hangar door.
His men moved with him.
They weren’t taking us to Geneva.
They were leaving.
Lucas understood at the same moment I did.
“The servers were bait.”
“And this airfield is the kill site,” Ghost said.
The false colonel smiled.
“General Kane sends more than his regards.”
He removed a small black remote from his belt and pressed the button.
Metal shutters crashed over every door and window.
The Meridian soldiers slipped outside.
Locks engaged behind them.
The Brave.
The hostages.
The injured.
All trapped inside.
The false colonel still carried Lucas’s tag.
Ghost’s evidence drive.
And the key card that might open the hangar.
A digital clock illuminated above the crates.
18:59.
18:58.
18:57.
Hawk moved closer.
“Everyone stay away from the containers.”
Adam pulled against his restraints.
“Can you stop it?”
“I don’t know.”
Boone stared at the countdown.
“Please tell me that’s eighteen hours.”
Hawk shook his head.
“Minutes.”
The lights flickered again.
Ghost looked toward Colonel Demir.
“What’s inside those containment units?”
The colonel answered in Turkish.
Ghost’s expression turned grim.
“What did he say?” I asked.
“Something capable of killing every person within ten miles.”
The clock reached eighteen minutes.
Lucas moved toward me.
His bound hands closed around mine.
“We’re getting out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet.”
A familiar voice came through the hangar speakers.
Evan Minser.
“You always were optimistic, brother.”
Lucas stared toward the ceiling.
Minser laughed.
“Let’s see if Wynn still loves you when choosing you costs thousands of lives.”
The speakers went silent.
The countdown continued.
17:59.
17:58.
17:57.
Lucas looked at me.
I saw the promise in his silver eyes.
He wasn’t going to let me go.
He wasn’t going to let the Brave die.
And he wasn’t going to allow Fate to claim another life.
But for the first time that night, even Lucas didn’t know how to save us.
I tightened the pacing, corrected the restraint and key-card continuity, and repaired the Geneva timeline. Most importantly, Minser’s operatives are now inside the bank while he communicates from an aircraft, and the deadline is six hours—long enough for the race to Geneva to remain possible.