"He's not gone," she gasped, bleeding from a cut on her cheek. "Just stalled."
They ran.
Up above, the facility began to collapse. The diversion team had planted explosives in the structural supports. Tamir's voice crackled over the radio.
"Extraction point's hot. Meet at fallback route."
Jude and Rhea made it, barely. They emerged into the chaos, flames, gunfire, shadows moving between the trees. But the data was secured. The facility was gone. And the world was about to change.
That night, Jude sat with Rhea and Tamir on a hill overlooking the smoking ruins. They didn't speak. There was nothing left to say. They had survived.
But they all knew it wasn't the end.
Ascendia would rebuild.
The boy would return.
And when he did, Jude would be ready.
