Chapter 12 – The Ties That Break
The plan wasn't perfect. It wasn't even solid. But it was urgent.
They had 48 hours before Michael would be moved to an undisclosed black site. After that, he'd vanish.
Elias, Mason, and Amara gathered around a digital map of the Zurich facility where Michael was held. It wasn't government-run. That made it worse. Private. Off-books. Controlled by Daedalus.
Amara paced.
"If we go in loud, we lose him. If we go in late, we lose him. And if we trust the wrong person—"
"We lose everything," Mason finished.
Elias glanced at her. "You sure you're ready for this?"
She didn't hesitate. "I'm done watching people I care about disappear."
---
The Infiltration – 03:18 a.m.
They entered through the sub-tunnels, a forgotten maintenance shaft once used by engineers. Amara led the way—mask over her face, hands steady despite the tremor in her chest.
She hadn't seen Michael since the night everything began. Since West's body was taken from her. Since her world cracked in two.
Now, she was about to risk what was left of it to pull him out.
Elias stayed behind to disable the outer surveillance. Mason took the roof as a sniper backup. Amara slipped into the facility's east wing like smoke.
Room by room. Corridor by corridor.
Until she found him.
Michael—barely conscious, chained to a chair. Blood on his shirt. But his eyes lit up the second he saw her.
"You came," he rasped.
She smiled through the burn in her throat. "Took me long enough."
---
The escape was chaos.
Elias joined halfway through. Explosions rocked the west corridor—Mason's distraction worked. Guards scrambled. Alarms screamed.
Amara half-carried Michael down the passage, whispering encouragement she didn't even know she believed.
They reached the exit. The van. Safety.
Then a single bullet tore through the air.
Michael cried out and collapsed in her arms.
"No—no, no—" Amara clutched him, pressing her hand over the wound. "Stay with me."
Elias pulled them into the van. Mason drove like hell. Blood soaked her hands. Michael's breathing was shallow. But he was alive.
Barely.
---
Later that night...
They stitched him up. Sedated him. Gave him a fighting chance.
Amara sat beside his bed, arms stained in dried blood.
Elias crouched beside her. "He's strong. He'll hold on."
Her voice cracked. "I can't lose him, too."
"You won't."
There was a pause. Then she looked at Elias, really looked at him. His eyes told her the truth he wouldn't say out loud.
They were running out of time. And West's message was no longer a warning.
It was a countdown.
---
Elsewhere…
Myra paced, wine glass untouched on the table.
"He survived."
Daedalus's voice came through the speaker. Calm. Cold.
"He won't matter for long."
"But Amara does," she whispered.
She pulled out a new file. Photos of Elias. Of Amara. Of their growing bond.
"She's not just her niece anymore," Myra murmured. "She's her shadow. And that makes her dangerous."
Daedalus answered only one word:
"Eliminate."
Michael woke up slowly.
The light above him flickered. His body ached like a thousand bricks had landed on him, but when he turned his head, she was there.
Amara.
Sleeping, curled in a chair, one hand still wrapped around his wrist like she was afraid he'd vanish.
He tried to move. The pain made him groan.
She woke instantly.
"You're awake," she said softly, her voice barely hiding the relief.
He gave her a weak smile. "You came all this way… just to get me shot?"
She laughed, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.
"You're stupid," she whispered. "But you're alive."
Elias stepped into the room, quieter than usual. He nodded at Michael, then looked to Amara. "We need to talk."
---
Later…
The room was quiet. Just the three of them.
Michael's voice was still raspy, but clear. "I need to tell you something. Something West told me before she died."
Amara froze.
"She didn't say it directly. Not at first. But after she realized she was being watched, she left a code behind. I didn't understand it until I was locked up."
He reached beneath the hospital bed's mattress, where he had hidden a small folded paper Elias handed him earlier. He opened it. On it was one line, written in West's unmistakable handwriting:
> Tell him. Don't trust anyone.
Michael looked at Elias.
"She wasn't talking about you, Elias. She was talking about me."
"What?" Amara whispered.
Michael nodded, ashamed.
"She found out that I—unknowingly—led Daedalus to her. I didn't know who I was dealing with. I gave information to someone I thought was a whistleblower. He fed me stories, made it all sound like we were exposing corruption. But all the while, he was working with Myra."
He looked at Amara. "Your aunt… died because of my mistake."
Amara didn't speak. Didn't move.
Michael turned to Elias. "That's why she said don't trust anyone. Because she realized the system was corrupted from the inside. Even people she trusted were being used as pawns."
Elias sat back, silent.
Amara finally spoke. Her voice low. "You were trying to help her. Even if it went wrong… she still trusted you. She didn't say 'Don't forgive him.' She said 'Tell him.'"
Michael's eyes burned. "That's not a kindness I deserve."
"But it's what you got," Elias said quietly.
---
Outside, Mason monitored a secure feed. Something flickered across the screen.
"Guys?" he called out. "You're gonna want to see this."
They gathered around the laptop.
A video, sent anonymously. Surveillance footage.
Amara. Elias. Michael. Leaving the Zurich hideout.
A red circle appeared around Amara's face. Then a single word:
> "ASSET PRIORITY: TERMINATE"
They stared at the screen.
The hunt had begun.
They left Zurich before dawn.
No goodbyes. No lingering. Just movement.
Every city they passed through now felt like a trap. Every whisper a warning. But this time, they weren't running.
They were hunting.
Amara sat beside Elias in the back of the vehicle. Michael slept fitfully in the seat behind them. Mason drove, his eyes sharp on the road ahead.
They were heading to Prague.
Not for safety.
For answers.
Prague was where Myra's offshore accounts connected. Where a man named Silas Creed ran one of Daedalus's oldest shell fronts. If they wanted to cut through the lies, that was the thread to pull.
---
At a quiet apartment near the city center, they set up base. Michael helped decrypt financial records. Mason mapped out entry points. And Elias and Amara—well, they fell into a rhythm neither of them understood, but couldn't deny.
It was in the way she handed him files without asking.
The way his hand hovered over her back when they moved through tight spaces.
The glances that lingered too long when neither of them were speaking.
---
That night
Amara stood on the balcony, arms wrapped around herself. The Prague skyline glowed golden in the distance, but all she could see were shadows.
Elias joined her quietly.
"You okay?" he asked.
She didn't answer at first. Then: "I don't know who I am anymore. West is gone. Michael's broken. Myra wants me dead. And you…" She looked up at him. "I don't know why you're still here."
His voice was steady. "Because I believe in you."
"Why?" she whispered.
"Because when everything falls apart, you keep fighting. Even when you're scared. Even when you're unsure. That's the kind of person who deserves the truth."
She swallowed hard. "And what if I find out I'm part of the lie?"
"Then we burn the whole thing down together."
There was a long silence. Then, without thinking, she leaned into him. And for a moment, the chaos faded.
But only for a moment.
---
Hours later…
Mason burst into the room.
"They're coming."
He dropped a laptop onto the table. A live feed. A Daedalus convoy moving through Prague's outer district. Not heading for them—but for Silas Creed's building.
"They're cleaning house," Elias said. "Wiping out the weak links."
Michael limped forward. "Then we need to move now. If they kill him, we lose everything."
Amara nodded. "Gear up. We do this quiet. Fast."
---
At Silas Creed's compound
It was chaos.
Gunfire already erupted by the time they breached the lower levels. Bodies. Smoke. Screams. Daedalus operatives were everywhere.
They split up—Amara and Elias toward the vault room, Michael and Mason to find the server core.
In the basement, they found Silas Creed. Bleeding. Barely alive.
He looked up at Amara and smiled bitterly. "You have her eyes," he croaked.
"Whose?"
"West's," he whispered. "She once told me if I ever saw you… to tell you not to be afraid to be cruel."
Amara froze.
"She said justice wouldn't come clean," Silas gasped. "She said… it would come with blood."
Then he died.
---
They retrieved everything they could—drives, files, evidence.
As they fled into the night, Amara whispered to Elias:
"She knew this would get dark. She prepared me for it."
He looked at her, a storm behind his eyes. "Are you ready for that?"
She met his gaze.
"I think I already crossed that line."