She checked the infirmary. Nothing. She asked one of the logistics cadre, who checked the digital log. No entry for McKenna since morning chow.
That was when Mia stopped asking questions and started making noise.
Dante wasin the field reviewing training reports when the message came through a secure channel.
PRIVATE LOG: CADET MCKENNA – Location: UNCONFIRMED – Status PENDING
He stopped reading and pulled the system log. No sign-out. No contact. She had vanished inside a system designed to track every breath. He walked out of the field office without a word.
Shannon cameto in the dark. Her head ached, not sharp but deep. She felt a throb near the base of her skull. Her wrists were bound in front of her with heavy zip ties, cutting into her skin.
She tried to move but couldn’t. The air was cold and wet, not humid but more like underground damp. Concrete. Oil. Metal. A garage, maybe. Or a bunker. There was no sound at first.
Then footsteps. He stepped into the light like it was a stage.
Krueger.
He was calm, his hair perfect. His uniform was gone, replaced by plain clothes and surgical gloves. “Still awake?” he asked as if she’d overslept an appointment.
Shannon stared up at him, blood in her mouth from where she’d bitten her lip. She didn’t speak.
He crouched beside her. “You know, this didn’t have to happen,” he said conversationally. “I gave you off-ramps.”
She turned her head.
“You could’ve walked. You could’ve kept your mouth shut. You could’ve played the game like everyone else.”
His tone was so relaxed, it felt obscene. “But you couldn’t help yourself. You just had to talk.”
He ran a gloved thumb along the edge of her face, then flicked it away like brushing dust. “It’s a shame. You’re a legacy. They would’ve protected you if you hadn’t pushed.”
Shannon’s voice cracked out of her throat. “You’re going to lose.”
He smiled. “I’ve already won. No one’s looking for you. And even if they are, by the time they find what’s left, it’ll be long past inconvenient.”
He stood. “You made this personal,” he said. “So now I’m going to make it permanent.”
Dante hitthe admin doors at a dead sprint. “Where is she?” he barked.
A junior staffer turned, startled. “Who?”
“McKenna. Cadet McKenna.”
The officer checked a log. “She had an appointment this morning. There’s no sign-out record.”
“Then she didn’t leave on her own.” Dante pulled up his secure tablet. It showed the map overlay. Her comms chip had stopped pinging.It was in a dead zone in the middle of the maintenance sector.
His voice dropped. “You have five minutes to clear a search protocol, or I go in without one.”
Krueger draggedher by the collar through the service tunnel. Her legs scraped the concrete. Her head lolled once, then lifted. She was still conscious and still fighting.
He didn’t like that.
He stopped by the edge of the ravine where runoff from the old plumbing system pooled in a narrow trench. The water was icy black, a dozen feet deep, maybe more.
He knelt, hands around her throat. “Shhh.”
Her body jerked.
