“Bricks,” Kate said, relief evident in her voice. “Signal’s clean. Secure channel established.”
“Copy that.” I shifted the laptop so Evelyn could be seen in frame, the movement sending a spike of pain through my shoulder. “Kate, Ozzy, this is Evelyn Phillips. And that’s Dutch Henderson.” I nodded toward our grumpy host, who moved slightly closer but maintained his distance from the camera.
Ozzy barely looked up from his keyboard. “The mother and the unaffected local. Got it.”
Kate shot him a look before turning back to us. “We’ve been working nonstop since your last check-in.”
“What have you found out?”
Ozzy’s fingers flew across his keyboard, bringing up a complex web of financial transactions. “We traced the NeuroLink purchases through a network of shell companies. Each transaction was fragmented, routed through different dummy corporations using quantum encryption.” He looked directly at the camera. “They all lead back to one source. Langston Winslow.”
Evelyn’s breath caught, her body going completely still beside me.
“He found us,” she whispered.
I watched her hands begin to shake—not only with fear, but with a cold rage I recognized all too well. Six months of buildinga life, of believing they were safe, all shattered by the man who refused to let her go.
“There’s more,” Ozzy said. “The shell corporations used for the purchase are connected to Innovixus Labs.”
“What’s Innovixus?” Evelyn asked. “That’s not one of Langston’s companies.”
“Innovixus is a cutting-edge tech firm specializing in emergent technologies,” Kate explained. “Officially, they develop medical implants and neural interfaces. Unofficially, they’re into much darker applications. They’re the original developers of NeuroLink. We’ve been tracking them for years, but they’re notoriously difficult to pin down. Their security is top-tier.”
“So is Langston working with them, or did he just buy their tech?”
“He’s working with them,” Ethan’s voice broke in as his face appeared on the screen next to Kate. “Innovixus doesn’t just sell their tech. They maintain operational control over it. If Langston is using NeuroLink, he’s got Innovixus personnel running the show.”
I watched Evelyn’s face carefully. She’d gone completely still, that dangerous stillness prey animals adopt when they sense a predator. Her eyes fixed on the screen, absorbing each word with the heightened awareness of someone whose life depended on the information.
“How widespread is it?” I asked, keeping my voice level despite the anger building in my chest. “Just Garnett, or other locations too?”
“As far as we can tell, this is the only active deployment,” Kate answered, shuffling through digital files on her screen. “It’s a field test, not full implementation. They’re using Garnett as a controlled environment to perfect the tech before scaling up.”
“A test,” Evelyn repeated, her voice hollow. “They turned an entire town into lab rats just to get to us.”
I wanted to pull her into my arms and promise her that Langston would never touch her or Sophia again. But I couldn’t—and not only because my teammates were watching. Promises were easy. Action was what mattered now.
“Population assessment?” I asked, needing to understand the scope.
“Based on your reports and satellite thermal imaging, approximately 200 of Garnett’s 260 residents show behavioral patterns consistent with NeuroLink influence,” Ozzy reported, clinical and detached as always.
Evelyn reached for my hand. “My God.”
Two hundred people—neighbors, friends, parents—all turned into puppets.
“We need backup,” I said, decision made. “Full team deployment.”
Ethan’s voice came through, though his face didn’t appear on screen. “Already in motion. ETA eight hours.”
“Copy,” I replied. “We’ll gather intel on the ground until you arrive. Identify targets, establish evac routes.”
“Trent.“ His voice hardened. “No heroics. Lay low until the team arrives.”
“Copy that,” I replied, though my mind was already working through contingencies. Beside me, Evelyn sat motionless, her eyes fixed on the screen where Langston’s name still appeared in Ozzy’s financial web, her hand still clutching mine.
“We’ll maintain this secure channel,” Kate said. “Check in every hour.”
“Will do. Dalton out.” I ended the call, the screen going dark.
