The safehouse was buried beneath a decommissioned train station in the Swiss Alps—no signal, no cameras, no trace. Cold seeped through the concrete, but no one cared. Trust, not temperature, was what chilled them now.
Nam stood before a dimly lit table strewn with maps, schematics, and intercepted logs. Alina paced nearby, while Hana scanned lines of code on her tablet, eyes twitching as if decoding more than numbers—decoding lies.
"Someone in our original team rerouted our Geneva plans," Hana said quietly. "Subtle, but deliberate. We were meant to die."
Nam looked up. "And the source?"
"I don't have a name yet. But I have a device signature. Modified OS… custom encryption…" She tapped the screen. "Military-grade. Japanese origin."
Alina narrowed her eyes. "Keiji?"
Nam shook his head slowly. "No. Keiji was a patriot. But someone with access to his gear—"
"Or someone he trusted," Alina added.
Silence again. It lingered like a fog no one could breathe through.
Suddenly, the lights flickered.
Hana stiffened. "That's not normal."
Alina reached for her pistol.
A slow, rhythmic knock echoed from the steel door.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Then two.
Nam approached. "That's the old Phoenix code."
He unlocked the door with caution. It hissed open.
A man stumbled in, wounded, his coat soaked with blood and snow.
"Keiji," Alina gasped.
He collapsed into Nam's arms. "I escaped. Only just. The Council—Kaas turned them. Used neuro-sync tech. They're no longer themselves."
Nam lowered him to the floor. "What about the mole?"
Keiji coughed, blood spotting his lips. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small chip. "Everything… on here."
Hana grabbed it and plugged it into her tablet, projecting the data.
A face appeared.
Alina froze.
"No… It can't be."
Nam stared at the image. His blood ran cold.
The mole… was Lara, one of the original founders of Unit 00. The woman who trained them, bled with them—who died five years ago in Istanbul.
"She's dead," Hana said, voice trembling.
"No," Nam murmured. "She disappeared. We assumed she was dead."
Keiji groaned. "She's Kaas's right hand now. More machine than human. But her mind... is intact."
The room spun. Their past had come back—and it was hunting them.
Nam stood, his voice firm.
"Then it's time we stop running."
He looked at Alina and Hana.
"We bring the war to them."