Chapter 40: The Nursing Home Enforcer
Countdown: 47:37:20. Elian Thorne moved through the tomblike silence of Penitentiary-18 flanked by Evander Vale and Silas Locke. The prison after 9 PM was an alien landscape—cavernous, unnervingly still. Four Automated Correctional Units stood sentinel in the central yard, facial LEDs dark, deep in power-saving mode. Confirmation, Elian thought. He and Pixel had been right. Claire Whitman’s presence in Lorien had indeed triggered his crossing into Metropolis-18. “We held off grabbing you when Travelers emerged,” Evander rumbled, his voice a low vibration in the stillness. “Didn’t want observers connecting dots. Silas put it out that you’d been ‘eyeing Lucian Reed’s ACE-005’ and got slapped down. Your cover’s secure.” “Understood,” Elian replied. Lucian Reed had planned to recruit him f
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