A scream cut through the silence like a blade through silk.
Maya dropped to her knees, instinctively clutching the sidearm hidden beneath her jacket. Beside her, Callen spun around, eyes narrowing as he scanned the shadows for the source of the cry. The scream had come from inside the compound. The secure compound. The one they had just cleared.
"This isn't right," Callen muttered, moving forward with his weapon drawn.
Maya followed closely, her breath shallow. The hallway they had entered moments ago was supposed to be empty. They had done a sweep. Every room had been checked. Every camera feed confirmed clear.
But now?
Blood streaked the walls ahead.
They turned the corner and stopped.
It was a massacre.
Three bodies lay sprawled across the tiled floor, their throats slit with surgical precision. All guards. All wearing their own insignia. And none of them had managed to fire a single shot.
"This wasn't an ambush," Maya whispered, her voice tight. "It was an execution."
Callen bent down, examining one of the fallen. His jaw clenched. "The cuts are clean. No sign of a struggle."
Maya's mind raced. "Someone knew the security layout. Someone who belonged here."
As if on cue, static buzzed through her earpiece.
"Zone seven compromised," came Riker's voice. "Repeat, zone seven compromised. All units respond."
Callen looked up. "That's the lab wing."
Maya didn't hesitate. She bolted.
The lab wing held the encrypted drives—the ones containing the Serpent Protocol's location data. If those were compromised, the entire operation was blown. Worse, the people whose lives were at stake because of that data? They'd be as good as dead.
She ran faster, heart pounding against her ribs. Every step echoed down the corridor, the sounds of chaos spreading in waves behind her.
They reached the lab doors. They were ajar.
Inside, the lights flickered, casting shadows over the sleek monitors and humming equipment. Papers were scattered. Computers shattered. The mainframe screen blinked with an ominous red warning.
BREACH DETECTED.
In the center of the chaos stood a single figure.
She turned slowly, her face calm. Too calm.
"Leena?" Maya froze.
Callen raised his gun, confusion clouding his face.
Leena Reyes. The lead data analyst. Trusted. Sharp. Loyal.
Maya had trained with her. Shared meals. Laughed.
And now she stood over a drive bay with a loaded pistol and a bloodied knife at her feet.
"I didn't want you to see this," Leena said softly.
"Put the weapon down," Callen said, voice even.
Leena looked at Maya, sadness in her eyes. "It was never supposed to be personal. But you got too close. You always do."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Maya asked, stepping forward.
Leena stepped back, closer to the core servers.
"You really think the Protocol is just a tracking tool?" she said, voice bitter. "You think it's about secrets? Control? It's bigger than that. It's about choosing who gets to survive."
Maya felt the air leave her lungs.
"We were saving lives," she said.
Leena's lips curled into a faint smile. "No. You were following orders."
Then she tossed the drive into the containment unit and hit a sequence on the screen.
The system began to hum.
"She's triggering a wipe," Callen shouted. "She's erasing everything!"
Maya lunged forward. But Leena had already pulled the emergency lock.
Thick steel shutters slammed down between them, sealing off the server bay.
"No!" Maya pounded on the glass.
Leena placed her hand on the other side. Her face unreadable.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But this world needs to burn before it can start again."
The lab lights flared, then went black.
An explosion shook the floor beneath them.
Callen grabbed Maya, dragging her back as the wall blew out behind the containment chamber. Flames licked at the edges of the metal.
"She destroyed it all," Maya choked. "The files. The drives. Everything."
But Callen wasn't looking at the fire.
He was staring at a small blinking device near the wreckage.
It was a transmitter.
"She sent a copy," he said, his voice grim. "Before the wipe."
Maya's hands curled into fists. "To who?"
Sirens blared overhead as the fire suppression system activated.
"I don't know," Callen said. "But we just lost our only leverage."
They raced back through the compound as reinforcements arrived. Riker met them halfway, sweat beading on his forehead.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"Leena's a double," Maya said. "She wiped the data and transmitted a copy out. We need to find out where."
Riker's expression hardened. "I'll pull every trace we can."
Maya nodded, but inside, she was unraveling. She had trusted Leena. More than that—she had believed in her. And now that trust had cost them the one thing that could have kept the Protocol out of enemy hands.
They were back to square one.
Or worse.
Because now, whoever had the Protocol copy could weaponize it.
As she turned the corner into the command wing, her phone buzzed.
A message. Unknown sender.
YOU'RE TOO LATE. THE GAME HAS STARTED.
Maya stared at the screen.
And then the power cut out.
Darkness swallowed the compound.
A single light flickered in the hallway.
And from the shadows, footsteps approached.