CHAPTER 2: THE QUIET BEFORE THE SHATTER
1162 Words
The clock read 1:03 a.m. when Amethyst slipped back into their hidden den, nestled deep beneath the antique bookshop. The faint scent of ink and old paper hung in the air, mingling with the sharper tang of ozone from the computer systems humming quietly in standby. She moved like a ghost across the room, the soles of her boots whispering against the floor as she passed by rows of digital monitors and idle equipment.
The others were still awake.
Sky was perched on the edge of the long table, twirling a butterfly knife between her fingers like it was a violin bow. Keisha lay upside-down on a cracked leather sofa, legs over the backrest and eyes fixed on her phone screen. Vince sat in front of a screen, tapping away with one hand while cradling a coffee mug in the other. Lexter leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, gaze thoughtful. Kira was the first to notice Amethyst enter.
"You look like death warmed over," Kira said gently, standing up. "Where've you been?"
Amethyst gave a faint smile. "Orphanage. Steven's sick."
Sky looked up, her knife pausing mid-spin. "Bad?"
"Worse than bad. He was fine a week ago. Now he's pale as chalk and burning up. The clinic won't run more tests without money."
Lexter uncrossed his arms and walked toward her. "We'll do something. After the job. We'll make it right."
She nodded slowly, but her gaze was distant. Her mind kept replaying what she saw in the alley. The way the woman smiled. The impossible strength. The red glow of her eyes.
It wasn't real. It couldn't have been.
"You okay, boss?" Vince asked, twisting in his chair to face her.
Amethyst hesitated.
She could lie. Or tell them the truth. But what would she even say?
"Just tired," she replied instead, pulling off her coat. "Really, really tired."
Kira gave her a long, searching look but didn't press.
"Alright," Vince said, tapping the mug against the edge of the desk like a signal. "Let's get into it, then. I've been digging into the vault's specs for the past six hours."
Amethyst nodded, grateful for the change in subject.
The holographic screen bloomed into view, rotating blueprints of the facility they were about to breach. The target: a private underground vault in Manila, beneath a facade of a corporate biotech firm—one of the most secure facilities in Southeast Asia.
"Turns out," Vince continued, pointing to the center of the vault's hologram, "the Divine Heart isn't just locked behind biometric gates and encrypted passcodes. The entire vault's protected by quantum-hardened encryption." He tapped a few keys, and a stream of data flowed across the screen—lines of unbreakable code. "Military-grade. Borderline uncrackable. But that's not the part that's throwing me off."
Keisha raised an eyebrow. "There's a part more impossible than quantum security?"
Vince zoomed in further. "There's another layer. One that... doesn't belong. It's not code. It's something else. Some kind of anomaly in the system's signature."
Sky leaned forward. "Define anomaly."
"I mean it's like the data doesn't follow any logic. It's like something's actively rewriting the code as I try to crack it. But it's not artificial. It's reactive... instinctive."
Amethyst's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying the vault's protected by... something supernatural?"
Vince swallowed hard. "I didn't want to say it, but yeah. That's exactly what it feels like."
Lexter muttered, "We've hijacked military drones, government satellites, and black-ops archives. And now you're telling me our biggest threat is a ghost in the machine?"
"Not a ghost," Vince said. "More like a ward. Like the tech itself is... cursed."
Kira rubbed her temples. "So what, we call a priest?"
Amethyst stepped closer, voice firm. "We adapt. Vince, isolate the signature. Trace it. Find a way to mask our intrusion beneath it. If it reacts instinctively, we move faster than it can think. Sky, Kira—prep the bypass tools. We need physical redundancies in case digital access fails. Lexter, load up with enough counter-surveillance to block a city block."
"Copy," he said.
Keisha cracked her knuckles. "What about me?"
Amethyst turned. "You're with me. We'll intercept the keycard carriers and replace the core ID while they're mid-shift. We've got a ten-second window. Make it count."
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Day of the Heist
Rain fell in sheets, slicking the black pavement of Bonifacio Global City with a mirrored sheen that shimmered beneath the skyline. Manila pulsed with its usual chaos—neon lights, honking cars, and oblivious civilians. But beneath that mask, the team moved like shadows.
Lexter drove the unmarked black van toward the facility's perimeter. Inside, Kira and Vince monitored live surveillance feeds. Sky had already infiltrated the front office, disguised as an internal auditor, flawlessly slipping through facial scans and RFID checks.
Amethyst adjusted her earpiece. Her reflection in the rearview mirror was sharp, composed. But her fingers twitched.
"All units, check in," she said quietly.
"Sky in position. No heat on me."
"Vince and Kira locked in and listening. You're green."
"Keisha ready," came the hushed voice from beside her. "Let's steal a heart."
They moved with brutal efficiency. In ten minutes, Keisha had intercepted the junior biometric handler in a staged elevator jam. A needle-prick and swipe later, they had his retina and voiceprint, his memories hazy from the chemical lullaby.
Amethyst slipped through the inner halls like a breeze, silent and invisible.
They reached the vault room.
The vault loomed like a blood-stained monolith—silver walls reflecting the crimson glow of the security sensors. Vince's bypass codes flickered across the control panel. Sky's decoy alarms delayed the system just long enough for Kira's USB spike to override the mainframe.
Then...
Click.
The vault opened.
Inside, the Divine Heart glowed with unnatural beauty. A flawless diamond, large as a clenched fist, red as spilled wine. It sat on a suspended cushion of magnetic fields, humming faintly with power.
Keisha whispered, "Holy shit."
Lexter murmured, "We actually did it."
No traps triggered. No backup alarms. Nothing.
Amethyst stared at the gem. Her fingers closed around it.
Too easy.
Far too easy.
-----
They regrouped an hour later at the den, soaked and exhilarated. Vince scanned the diamond. "No trackers. No secondary alarms. We ghosted that facility."
Sky popped open a bottle of wine. "To the greatest heist ever pulled in the Pacific."
Laughter echoed.
But Amethyst didn't join in.
She stared at the Divine Heart.
There was something about it... something that felt wrong. The moment her skin touched it, a jolt of something—not electricity, but recognition—had shot through her. Like the diamond knew her. Like it had been waiting.
Then the lights flickered.
Just once.
And from the far corner of the den, where no one stood, a whisper curled into her ears like smoke:
"You opened the door."
She turned sharply.
No one was there.
But deep inside her, something was awake now.
And it was watching.
- Writer
