28. Lucas #3
“Yes. I’m learning.”
The last airfield worker disappeared into the tunnel.
Adam motioned toward us.
“Move.”
We entered one by one.
Hawk carried the damaged control module.
Ghost took the radio.
Boone limped behind Russ.
I stayed with Wynn.
At the tunnel entrance, she looked back at the silent server units.
“What about Paris, London, and Berlin?”
“They’re target profiles inside Fate,” I said. “Not equipment destinations.”
“This time.”
I knew what she meant.
Meridian had built more than one weapon.
Project Fate had planned attacks across multiple countries.
Stopping these containment units changed nothing if Kane remained in control.
We climbed through the tunnel.
The passage ended beneath the control tower.
Colonel Demir opened a concealed door.
Dawn light filled the room.
Computer screens covered every wall.
Maps.
Flight logs.
Security feeds.
One screen showed the false colonel’s convoy leaving the airfield.
Another tracked an aircraft already climbing into the sky.
Kane’s men.
And with them, the evidence drive and the metal tag containing Fate’s second encryption key.
The aircraft was heading west.
Toward Geneva.
Demir sat at the control panel and opened a secure communications channel.
Ghost translated rapidly.
The colonel’s wife would send a containment team.
No military command.
No General Kane.
Only people Demir trusted personally.
Adam moved toward the radar screen.
“How long before that aircraft reaches Geneva?”
Ghost checked the flight path.
“Five hours.”
“And us?”
“Six, if we can find another aircraft.”
“Then we’re already behind.”
Wynn walked toward a terminal.
“Not necessarily.”
Every man looked at her.
She opened the bank’s secure portal and entered her credentials.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Moving the finish line.”
She accessed the joint account.
My name appeared beside hers.
LUCAS SPENCER.
WYNN SPENCER.
The sight of our names together struck harder than I expected.
Wynn selected the emergency-transfer option.
Then pressed a command.
EMERGENCY VAULT TRANSFER INITIATED.
Ghost stared at her.
“What did you do?”
“I ordered the bank to move our box into its off-site security system.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Only the bank’s automated system chooses the repository.”
“How long before the transfer?”
Wynn watched the confirmation appear.
“Two hours.”
Hawk understood first.
“The box will be gone before Kane’s men reach Geneva.”
“Yes.”
Boone smiled.
“Remind me never to make her angry.”
A new message appeared.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION REQUIRES SECOND ACCOUNT HOLDER.
Wynn turned toward me.
I stepped closer.
The terminal requested my account credentials and six-digit personal code.
“What code?” I asked.
“The one we used when we opened the account.”
“You remember it?”
Wynn’s eyes softened.
“It was our wedding date.”
I entered the date.
June eighteenth.
The terminal flashed green.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED.
For the second time that morning, our wedding date had stopped Fate.
Wynn stared at our names on the screen.
“Maybe fate is trying to tell us something.”
I wrapped one arm around her waist.
“I’ve never trusted fate.”
“No?”
“No.” I looked into her emerald eyes. “But I’m beginning to trust second chances.”
A warning replaced the confirmation.
TRANSFER INTERRUPTED.
ACCOUNT FROZEN BY EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY.
Wynn’s smile vanished.
“Who has executive authority?”
“Only the managing director.”
“Elise is the account attorney,” Ghost said. “And the managing director was taken with the other bank employees.”
The screen changed.
A live video appeared.
Elise sat inside the Geneva vault.
Camille knelt beside her.
An armed man stood behind them, his face concealed by a black mask.
A compact metal case rested on the vault floor.
Small enough to have been carried inside by one person.
A second window opened beside the first.
Evan Minser appeared on the screen.
The vibration behind him and the low roar of engines revealed the interior of an aircraft.
He wasn’t inside the bank.
He didn’t need to be.
His operatives had already seized it for him.
Minser smiled into the camera.
“You’re late.”
Wynn moved closer to the screen.
“How did your men get inside?”
“Elise was very helpful.”
Elise shook her head desperately.
The masked operative pressed a gun against Camille’s neck.
Minser’s gaze shifted to me.
“Kane’s men are bringing me the encryption key. Unfortunately, the bank still requires both account holders before it will release the box.”
He wanted us alive for the same reason the false colonel had.
Wynn and I were the only people who could open the vault.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“You and Wynn in Geneva.”
“And if we don’t come?”
“Then Geneva discovers what Project Fate has planned for its first European city.”
The vault camera shifted toward the compact case.
It had nothing to do with the encrypted drive inside Wynn’s safety-deposit box.
It was a portable dispersal unit Minser’s operatives had carried inside after seizing the bank.
A red clock glowed across its surface.
05:59:48.
05:59:47.
05:59:46.
Minser looked directly at Wynn.
“Fate is waiting.”