The strain was immense. Sweat poured down my face, mixing with the blood from my nose. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision, and my heartbeat thundered erratically in my chest. I was pushing far beyond what was safe, but safety had never been a luxury I could afford.
On the monitors, I watched as my commands rippled through the facility. Emergency lights began flashing in sections far from Nicolai's location. Fire suppression systems activated in empty corridors, flooding them with foam and creating chaos. Security doors slammed shut, trapping groups of guards away from their posts.
"You're going to bring the whole place down on our heads," Yuri growled, though I noticed he made no move to stop me.
"That's kind of the point," I managed through gritted teeth.
The scientist with the syringe paused, looking up in confusion as alarms began blaring in their section. He set the injection down and moved to a communication panel on the wall.
Perfect.
I targeted that specific room next, shutting down power to everything except emergency lighting. On the security feed, Iwatched as the containment team panicked, rushing to secure their equipment and data rather than focusing on their prisoner.
"That buys us some time," I said, wiping away another stream of blood. My body was screaming for me to stop, but I couldn't—not yet. "But it won't last long. They'll have backup generators."
"Then we move now," Yuri decided, checking his weapon. "I'll go with Dima's team to extract Nicolai. You stay here and—"
"No," I interrupted, surprising both of us with the firmness in my voice. "I'm coming with you."
Yuri's expression darkened. "Look at yourself, kid. You can barely stand."
He wasn't wrong. My legs felt like they were made of water, and the room wouldn't stop spinning. But none of that mattered. "I'm the only one who can disable those restraints quickly," I argued. "And if they have other electronic countermeasures in place, you'll need me there."
For a moment, I thought Yuri might physically restrain me—force me to stay behind for my own good. The concern in his eyes had transformed into something harder, more calculating as he weighed my usefulness against my condition.
Before he could decide, I turned back to the console and initiated my final sequence. "Besides," I added, fingers trembling as they danced across the keyboard, "I'm not done yet."
I reached for the facility's primary power grid—the beating heart that kept everything running. With a mental push that felt like driving shards of glass into my brain, I began to overload it systematically, creating power surges that would fry backup systems and emergency protocols.
"O'Rourke has to be stopped completely," I gasped, blood now flowing freely from both nostrils. "Or he'll never stop hunting us, hunting me."
On one of the security feeds, a new figure appeared—Patty O'Rourke himself, moving quickly through a corridor with two armed guards, headed for what looked like a private elevator. He was carrying something—a small case that he clutched like it contained the crown jewels.
"There he is," I whispered, locking onto his location. "East wing, headed for the executive escape route. He's running."
Yuri relayed the information through his comm unit, but his eyes never left my face. "You've done enough," he said, his tone softer than I'd ever heard it. "The teams can handle the rest."
I shook my head, immediately regretting the motion as pain lanced through my skull. "No. I need to finish this."
My vision blurred as I focused on the power grid again. The facility's systems were already beginning to fail under the strain of my manipulations. Lights flickered throughout the complex. Security doors opened and closed at random. Communication systems broadcast static or fell silent entirely.
On the monitor showing Nicolai, I saw something that made my heart stutter—his eyes suddenly snapped open, locking directly with the camera as if he could sense my presence on the other side. A dangerous smile spread across his face as the lights in his containment room flickered in a deliberate pattern. SOS.
He knew we were coming.
"He's awake," I whispered, a surge of renewed energy flowing through me despite my deteriorating condition. "Yuri, look—he's conscious."
The bear shifter moved to my side, watching the feed with narrowed eyes. "We need to move, then. Now."
I nodded weakly, preparing to stand. My legs buckled immediately, and I would have crashed to the floor if Yuri hadn't caught me. His hand was surprisingly gentle on my shoulder as he steadied me.
"You've done enough," he repeated, genuine concern flashing across his features. "Let the team handle the rest."
I shook my head, pushing myself upright with grim determination. "I need to finish this," I insisted, fingers already back on the keyboard despite the violent tremors wracking my body. "O'Rourke needs to be eliminated completely, or he'll never stop hunting us."
The monitors showed O'Rourke's men scrambling in confusion throughout the facility. Some were rushing to secure research data, others attempting to restore systems, still others engaging with our assault teams. The chaos was spreading exactly as I'd planned, but it wasn't enough.
Not yet.
