Chapter 8: The Queen’s Gambit
The Syndicate compound burned behind them as Katelyn, Vincent, and Neil sped away in a black armored SUV. The night air was thick with smoke and the weight of what they’d just done.
Neil clutched his bleeding arm, his voice raw. “Why the hell did you save me?”
Katelyn didn’t look at him, her gaze fixed on the road ahead. “I didn’t. I just didn’t let him win.”
Vincent’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Voss had contingencies. This isn’t over.”
As if on cue, Katelyn’s phone buzzed—an emergency news alert.
[BREAKING] ELIAS VOSS, TECH TYCOON, DEAD IN SUSPECTED TERROR ATTACK. LAURENT CORPORATION STOCK PLUMMETS.
A grainy security still accompanied the headline—Vincent, caught mid-fight in the compound.
Katelyn’s stomach dropped. “They’re framing you.”
Vincent’s jaw clenched. “Worse. They’re isolating me.” His empire, his resources—gone in an instant.
Neil let out a bitter laugh. “Welcome to rock bottom, Laurent.”
Katelyn’s phone rang. Unknown number.
She answered.
A synthesized voice hissed: “The board is set. Your move, Shadow.”
The line went dead.
Safehouse Zero
Vincent’s last untraceable property was a crumbling loft above a Chinatown laundromat. Katelyn paced as he scrubbed blood off his hands in the rusted sink.
“You knew Voss was alive,” she accused. “This whole time.”
Vincent didn’t deny it. “I knew he’d come for you eventually. I used you as bait.”
The admission should have enraged her. Instead, she exhaled sharply. “Good. I’d have done the same.”
Neil, slumped on a moth-eaten couch, groaned. “You two are terrifying.”
Katelyn finally faced him. “Why did you help us back there?”
Neil met her gaze, his own surprisingly steady. “Because I finally saw who you really are.” He swallowed hard. “And I’d rather be on your side than in your way.”
A tense silence fell.
Then Vincent’s burner phone buzzed—a single coordinate and time.
Midnight. Dock 17.
The Offer
The abandoned pier reeked of salt and rotting fish. A lone figure waited beneath a flickering streetlamp—Lise, her once-flawless face now gaunt, her designer clothes replaced by tactical gear.
Katelyn’s hand flew to her knife.
Lise raised empty palms. “I’m not here to fight.” She tossed a USB drive at their feet. “Voss was going to kill me too. This is everything—Syndicate accounts, safehouses, everything.”
Vincent didn’t move. “What’s the price?”
Lise’s smile was all teeth. “I want in. You’re taking them down? I want a front-row seat.”
Katelyn studied her—the fear beneath the bravado, the desperation. This wasn’t betrayal.
It was survival.
She picked up the drive. “Welcome to the losing team.”
The World Watches
By dawn, the USB’s contents had been unleashed.
Every major news outlet exploded with Syndicate exposés. Corrupt politicians, blackmapped CEOs, even intelligence agencies—all exposed in a digital tsunami.
And at the center of the storm?
A single video—Katelyn, unmasked as Shadow, her face projected on every screen in Times Square.
“This isn’t a hack,” her voice echoed globally. “It’s a reckoning.”
Vincent watched from the shadows as the world erupted. His empire might be gone, but this—this was power.
Neil appeared beside him, uncharacteristically quiet. “She’s not just gonna disappear again, is she?”
Vincent’s lips curved. “No. She’s just getting started.”