The Arctic wind howled across the ice, carrying the last echoes of the destroyed facility into the endless white.
Ethan stood at the edge of the collapse, his body numb with cold and exhaustion. The structure that had once been the heart of the Genesis Ascension's network was gone, buried beneath tons of ice and snow. Eleanor Cross was gone too—escaped, vanished, dissolved into the frozen wasteland like a ghost.
But this time, Ethan felt something different. This time, he was done chasing.
"Ethan." Kate's voice was soft, filled with concern. "We need to go. The extraction team is waiting."
"I know." He turned to look at her, his eyes hard, his jaw set. "But we're not running anymore. We're going to find her. And we're going to end this."
---
The journey back to London was tense, but
