Chapter 9
The shuttle sliced through the early morning mist as it descended toward the jagged cliffs of Varnia. Kaelyn sat silently, helmet in her lap, her eyes locked on the rocky terrain outside the window. Each gust of wind rocked the shuttle, but her hands were steady, her mind sharper than ever.
Beside her, Sebastian hummed a low tune, his fingers dancing along the barrel of his rifle. “You know,” he said without looking up, “you don’t have to carry it all by yourself.”
She didn’t reply.
He added gently, “Some of us are here because we believe in you. Not just your skills—but you.”
Kaelyn glanced at him, her expression unreadable. “Then don’t slow me down.”
Sebastian smirked. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
The shuttle thudded onto a rocky plateau. The rear hatch opened with a hiss, letting in a blast of icy mountain air. The strike team moved fast, securing the perimeter, fanning out in practiced formation. Kaelyn and Zayn led the front, maps embedded in their wrist tablets.
According to their intel, the Tamar outpost was hidden inside a cliffside—camouflaged by natural stone and shielded from satellite view by thermal disruptors. But Kaelyn saw through it all. She noticed the unnatural cuts in the rock, the barely perceptible shifts in sound around certain boulders.
“There,” she pointed to a hollow bluff. “Behind that wall. There’s a tunnel.”
Zayn nodded, signaling the team.
Explosives were set. Three, two, one—boom.
The bluff exploded inward, revealing a dim corridor behind it, lined with flickering blue lights.
Weapons raised, the team moved in.
Kaelyn’s heart beat faster—not from fear, but from certainty. This was it.
The deeper they went, the colder it got. The air grew stale, heavy with the scent of metal and something else—chemicals. They passed through abandoned labs, with cracked glass tanks and twisted machinery. Faded logs still displayed half-deleted files: Subject K. Protocol 7. Compliance failure: Terminate.
Her hands clenched.
They’d planned to erase her the moment she stopped obeying.
Suddenly, movement flickered on the monitor to her left.
Zayn called out, “Someone’s still here.”
Alarms blared. The lights turned red.
A voice echoed through the tunnel—feminine, calm, and chilling. “Kaelyn Barnett. You were never meant to come back.”
Kaelyn’s blood ran cold.
She knew that voice.
It wasn’t Claire’s.
It was Dr. Ilsa Vorn, the woman who’d once taken her in after her parents died, who funded her education, who said she believed in Kaelyn’s potential.
The woman who had orchestrated Tamar.
“Ilsa,” Kaelyn muttered, rage boiling under her skin.
Zayn’s voice was tight. “You know her?”
“She used to call me her miracle.”
“Let’s hope she still believes in miracles,” Zayn said grimly. “Because we’re tearing this place down.”
Automated drones swarmed the hallway.
The team sprang into action—shots fired, metal cracked, sparks flew.
Kaelyn moved like a shadow—dancing through the chaos with precision. Every drone destroyed felt like a nail in the coffin of the lie they’d built around her life.
Sebastian covered her flank, yelling, “We need to find the control core!”
Kaelyn nodded, already running ahead, her feet pounding on steel floors.
She burst into the central command room.
And there, behind a wall of glass, stood Ilsa.
Older. Colder. Still wearing that sickening smile.
“You survived,” she said, tapping the glass. “Impressive. I always thought you’d be our greatest achievement.”
Kaelyn raised her weapon. “I’m not yours.”
Ilsa chuckled. “Oh, sweet girl. We created you.”
“No,” Kaelyn snapped. “You tried to break me. But you failed.”
And then she fired.
The glass shattered.
Ilsa ducked behind a control panel, triggering emergency lockdown.
Kaelyn vaulted over the wreckage, grabbing Ilsa by the collar. “I want names. Who else is behind Tamar?”
Ilsa struggled, laughing bitterly. “You think killing me will stop this? Tamar is bigger than you. Bigger than all of us.”
“Then I’ll tear it apart piece by piece.”
Behind her, the team was already planting charges.
Zayn shouted, “We’ve got five minutes to get out!”
Kaelyn tightened her grip. “You’re coming with us. You’ll tell us everything.”
Ilsa sneered. “You’ll regret keeping me alive.”
Kaelyn’s eyes blazed. “No. You’ll regret underestimating me.”
They dragged Ilsa out just as the final charges detonated.
The cliffs roared behind them, collapsing into a firestorm of debris.
Kaelyn stood at the edge of the ledge, watching the ruins burn.
Sebastian came up beside her. “That felt good.”
She nodded. “It’s not over.”
Zayn joined them. “But it’s a start.”
Kaelyn’s eyes narrowed as she looked toward the horizon.
Tamar had fallen.
But there were still shadows left to chase.