We’re ghosts now. Five shadows beneath the world, slipping into the mouth of something we may not walk out of. But we don’t stop. We move forward. The tunnel narrows before it opens into a junction chamber, stone giving way to steel.
We halt.
Noah moves ahead, crouching low, and pulls out a small device from his belt. The screen glows faintly green as he scans the doorway.
“Motion sensors. Infrared grid. Passive trip alerts,” he mutters. “Nothing lethal, not here. They’re watching movement.”
“How long to loop the feed?” Jace asks.
“Forty seconds if I’m perfect. Sixty if I mess up and we all die.”
“Don’t mess up,” Luca says dryly.
Noah flashes him a tight smile and starts working. Wires coil into the panel beside the door, fingers flying fast, and I watch his jaw tighten in focus.
Tex shifts behind us, watching the rear. His stance is loose, but I can tell he’s ready to lunge at the first shadow.
I glance up. The tunnel’s ceiling bristles with old tech, a collapsed ventilation system, security nodes blinking red. We’re in.
Too far to turn back now.
“Got it,” Noah breathes. “Looping begins, now.”
The door hisses open. We move fast.
The chamber beyond is wide, part lab, part storage. Glass consoles. Abandoned terminals. Crates stamped with blacked-out logos. There’s a faint hum in the air, like the walls are alive.
“Cameras up top,” Jace murmurs. “Noah?”
“Still looped. But we’ve got thirty seconds. Tops.”
We sweep the room.
Tex takes the right flank, disappearing behind a column of crates. Luca scales a short ladder to check the catwalk overhead. I stick close to Jace, my SMG drawn, scanning the far corners.
Nothing.
Too quiet.
Jace gestures to a sealed door on the far side. “That’s our way in. Lab’s through there.”
Noah’s already beside it, cracking the next lock.
“You okay?” Jace murmurs, low enough only I can hear.
I steady my breath. “Yeah.”
He doesn’t ask again.
The door opens with a sigh, revealing a long hallway bathed in artificial white light. Lab coats lie discarded on the floor. A coffee cup, long discarded, sits beside a crashed tablet.
It’s like the whole place was abandoned in a heartbeat.
“Keep eyes up,” Jace says. “If they knew we were coming, they’ll wait till we’re deep.”
Tex swings back into place at the front. We move forward, tight formation, boots silent on the tile.
At the end of the hall, a reinforced door stands sealed with biometric sensors glowing red.
