Nikos’s eyes flicked back to the SUV as it rolled closer, gravel crunching beneath the tires like bones under pressure.
“When Cosmos attempted to expose and shut them down,” RITA continued, “Benoit erased everything—facilities, staff records, personnel, data trails. He went dark. Very dark. I’ve only just breached their firewall. My husband is retrieving information as we speak.”
Nikos muttered under his breath, “Would’ve been nice to know this a little earlier.”
“Their encryption rivals CRI’s. Until now, even I couldn’t crack it.”
That gave him pause.
If RITA couldn’t get in… until now… then they were facing someone who didn’t just play dirty, but played smart.
“Be careful, Nikos,” she added, her voice lower. “Benoit is dangerous. Brilliant. Obsessive. He believes what he’s doing is right—and that makes him lethal.”
Nikos didn’t need the warning.
He could already feel it.
The SUV rolled to a stop ten feet away.
For one second, it felt like the world held its breath.
Then, the passenger door opened.
A single polished boot hit theground.
The man who emerged was dressed in black from head to toe—tailored coat, slacks, gloves, even his shirt collar was pressed with military precision. The outfit was sleek, expensive, and polished… not designed for camouflage. It was designed to send a message.
He wanted to be seen.
He wanted them to know he wasn’t afraid.
Benoit shut the door with a quiet click and began walking forward. The measured, controlled steps of a predator.
Nikos studied him in silence.
Lean. Fit. With power radiating from him in waves. Hair cut close to the skull, steel-gray at the temples. A face like a blade—clean-shaven, sharp-jawed, unreadable.
But it was the eyes that set Nikos on edge.
Cold. Calculating. Determined. There was not a flicker of hesitation in them.
Benoit’s lips curved into a sardonic smile, like they were old friends about to share a drink instead of opponents on the verge of war.
Nikos lifted his chin and called out, “You’ve moved close enough.”
Benoit stopped without missing a beat. He raised an eyebrow, like he had expected the command and only paused to be polite. He held his black-gloved hands out to his side and bowed his head in acknowledgement.
Nikos’s gaze slid toward the driver still seated behind the wheel.
“If he so much as twitches,” Nikos warned in an icy voice, raising the rifle slightly, “you’ll both be corpses before you hit the ground.”
Benoit’s eyes didn’t flicker. Didn’t waver.
Instead, they passed over Nikos’s shoulder… to the cabin behind him.
To her.
“Kiki,” he murmured, almost reverently.
