Blood in the Water
2089 Words
Kay hit send at 7:03 AM.
The files went to seven news outlets simultaneously. The Crescent City Chronicle. The Associated Press. The Guardian. Three wire services. And one anonymous blogger who had broken bigger stories than all of them combined.
“It’s done,” Kay said. Her finger hovered over the enter key one last time. Then she pressed it.
Marcus watched the upload bar fill. “How long until it goes live?”
“Minutes. Hours. Depends on how brave they are.”
“And if they’re not brave?”
“Then the blogger runs it. He’s afraid of nothing.”
The bar hit 100%. Kay closed her laptop.
“Now we wait.”
---
They didn’t wait long.
At 7:47 AM, the blogger published. His headline was simple: “Aegis Exposed: The Man Who Steals Memories.”
Within fifteen minutes, the story had been shared ten thousand times.
By 8:30 AM, the Associated Press picked it up.
By 9:00 AM, every major news outlet in the country was running the story.
Marcus watched on his phone. The comments were a firestorm. Some called it a conspiracy theory. Others demanded arrests. A few posted names of people they suspected were sleepers.
“It’s out of control,” Claire said.
“That’s the point,” Marcus replied. “Silas can control a lot of things. But he can’t control the internet.”
---
Silas’s response came at 9:17 AM.
A press release. Aegis denied everything. Called the documents “forged” and “a desperate attack by a disgruntled former employee.” Announced they were cooperating with authorities to find the “criminals” behind the leak.
Marcus almost laughed.
“He’s lying,” Mira said. “But he’s good at it.”
“He won’t be able to lie his way out of this,” Kay said. “There’s too much evidence.”
“You’d be surprised,” Damian said. “Money buys a lot of silence.”
---
Noah’s message came at 10:00 AM.
“Silas is evacuating the gala. Moving it to a different location. Somewhere off the books. I don’t know where yet.”
Marcus typed back: “Find out.”
“Working on it. Also, the three sleepers he captured—he’s moving them too. To a different facility. I’ll send coordinates when I have them.”
Marcus put the phone down.
“The gala is moving,” he said. “Noah doesn’t know where yet.”
“Then we find out,” Damian said. “We put someone on the inside.”
“Who?”
Damian looked at Mira.
Mira shook her head. “He knows my face. He’d spot me in seconds.”
“Not you.” Damian looked at Kay. “Her.”
Kay’s eyes widened. “Me? I’m a hacker. Not a spy.”
“You’re the only one he doesn’t know. You’ve never been in the same room with him. Your face isn’t in any Aegis file.”
“Because I was fired before they took my photo.”
“Exactly.”
Kay looked at Marcus. “He’s insane.”
“He’s not wrong,” Marcus said. “You’re our best shot.”
“And what do I do once I’m inside?”
“Plant a bug. Find the new location. Get out.”
Kay stared at him. Then she sighed.
“I hate this plan.”
“Noted.”
---
The gala was originally scheduled for the Thorne mansion. Now it was in motion. Noah’s network reported convoys of trucks leaving the estate, carrying decorations, furniture, catering equipment.
“He’s moving everything,” Noah texted. “Including the Lazarus Account servers.”
Marcus asked: “To where?”
“Not sure yet. But I have a guess. There’s an old military bunker outside the city. Fort Reed. Abandoned in the 90s. Silas bought it three years ago under a shell company.”
“That’s the place.”
“Probably. But I need confirmation.”
“Get it.”
---
Kay’s infiltration was set for that night.
Noah arranged for a catering uniform to be left in an alley behind the Thorne mansion. The trucks were still loading. Security was chaotic. A young woman in a white jacket wouldn’t draw attention.
Marcus drove her to the drop-off point. The alley was dark. The uniform was in a duffel bag behind a dumpster.
“You don’t have to do this,” Marcus said.
“Yes, I do.” Kay pulled on the jacket. It was too big. She tucked it in. “My father died because of these people. I’m not going to hide while you fight.”
“If they catch you—”
“They won’t.”
She got out of the car.
Marcus watched her walk toward the mansion. She disappeared into the crowd of workers.
Then he drove away.
---
Kay’s voice crackled through the earpiece thirty minutes later.
“I’m inside. The trucks are heading to the highway. I’m in one of them.”
“Stay hidden,” Marcus said.
“Planning on it.”
The truck rumbled for forty-five minutes. Kay whispered updates. The highway. An exit. A rural road. A gate.
Fort Reed.
The bunker was built into a hill. Concrete and steel. The trucks backed up to a loading dock.
Kay slipped out of the truck and hid behind a pallet of wine.
She planted the bug on the underside of a serving table.
Then she found an unlocked door and walked out into the night.
She called Marcus from a ditch half a mile down the road.
“I’m out.”
“Location?”
“Fort Reed. Like Noah said. They’re setting up for the gala tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow? I thought it was in three days.”
“Silas moved it up. He wants to launch the Lazarus Account before the story gets any bigger.”
Marcus cursed. “We’re not ready.”
“Then get ready fast.”
---
Marcus picked Kay up at a gas station twenty minutes later.
She was shivering. Her white jacket was filthy.
“You did good,” he said.
“I know.” She got in the car. “The bunker has three levels. The gala is on the top level. The Lazarus Account servers are on the bottom. Security is heavy, but not impossible.”
“How many guards?”
“Dozens. Maybe more tomorrow night.”
Marcus drove back to the warehouse.
The sleepers were awake now. Some were talking. A woman was crying. Lena moved among them, patient and calm.
Claire met Marcus at the door.
“What did you find?”
“The gala is tomorrow night. Fort Reed. We have less than twenty-four hours to stop it.”
Claire’s face tightened. “Then we need a new plan.”
---
The plan came together over the next few hours.
Damian would lead a diversion at the front gate. Draw the guards away.
Marcus and Claire would enter through the loading dock. Find the Lazarus Account servers. Plant the C4.
Kay would monitor from a van outside. Mira would stay with the sleepers. Lena would continue treatments.
“And the three captured sleepers?” Claire asked.
Marcus looked at Noah’s last message. He had coordinates now. A different facility. A warehouse on the south side.
“We rescue them after,” Marcus said. “One fight at a time.”
---
Marcus found Mira alone in the corner. She was staring at a photograph on her phone.
“Your daughter?” he asked.
Mira nodded. “She’s eight now. I haven’t seen her in six months.”
“After this is over, you’ll see her again.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know that Silas can’t hurt her anymore. Not after tomorrow.”
Mira put the phone away. “You’re a good man, Marcus. Despite everything.”
“I’m not good. I’m just angry.”
“Anger can be a gift. If you use it right.”
Marcus walked away.
---
Claire was waiting for him by the loading dock. The river was dark. The city lights reflected on the water.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked.
“Never can before a mission.”
“Me neither.” She leaned against the railing. “Marcus, what happens if we don’t make it tomorrow?”
“We make it.”
“But what if we don’t?”
He looked at her. “Then we go together.”
Claire nodded. “I can live with that.”
They stood in silence, watching the water.
---
At 2:00 AM, Marcus’s phone buzzed.
Noah: “Silas just activated a sleeper. A journalist who was asking questions. She’s on her way to the news station right now. She doesn’t know what she’s going to do.”
Marcus’s blood went cold.
“What’s her name?” he typed.
“Elena Ross. Channel 7 news.”
Marcus looked at Claire. “Silas just activated a sleeper. A journalist. She’s heading to a news station.”
“To do what?”
“I don’t know. But we can’t let her get there.”
Damian was already grabbing his jacket. “I’ll go.”
“No. I’ll go. You stay here. Protect the sleepers.”
Marcus ran to the car.
Claire followed.
“You’re not leaving me behind again.”
Marcus didn’t argue.
They drove.
---
Channel 7 was a glass building downtown. The parking lot was half-empty. Night shift.
Marcus parked across the street.
“How do we find her?” Claire asked.
“We wait.”
They didn’t wait long.
A woman in a red coat walked toward the building. Mid-thirties. Dark hair. Her steps were mechanical. Her face was blank.
Elena Ross. The sleeper.
Marcus got out of the car.
“Elena,” he called.
She didn’t turn.
He ran after her. Grabbed her arm.
She spun. Her eyes were empty. Her hand reached for something in her pocket.
A knife.
Marcus grabbed her wrist. “Elena. Wake up.”
She didn’t respond. She slashed at him. The knife cut his jacket.
Claire appeared beside him. “Elena. Listen to me. You’re not a weapon.”
The woman paused. Her eyes flickered.
“My name is Elena,” she whispered. “I’m a journalist.”
“That’s right,” Claire said. “You’re a journalist. You expose the truth. You don’t hurt people.”
The knife clattered to the ground.
Elena blinked. Her eyes cleared.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Someone tried to use you,” Marcus said. “We stopped them.”
Elena looked at the knife. At her hands.
“I don’t remember coming here.”
“You won’t. But you’re safe now.”
Marcus guided her to the car.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere safe. Somewhere Silas can’t find you.”
They drove back to the warehouse.
Elena was the thirty-eighth sleeper.
And she was the first one Silas had tried to use as a weapon since the story broke.
The war had just escalated.
---
Marcus’s phone buzzed as they pulled into the warehouse.
Silas: “You saved one. There are two hundred and thirty-six more. How many can you save before the gala tomorrow?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
Claire looked at the screen. “He’s going to activate them all.”
“Not if we stop him first.”
Marcus walked into the warehouse.
The sleepers were restless. They had heard the commotion. They knew something was wrong.
Marcus stood on a crate and faced them.
“Tomorrow night, we end this. The man who did this to you—Silas Vane—he’s going to be at a bunker outside the city. We’re going to stop him. We’re going to destroy his machines. And we’re going to make sure he never hurts anyone again.”
One of the sleepers—a young man—stood up.
“I want to help.”
Marcus shook his head. “You’ve been through enough.”
“I want to help,” the man repeated. “He took my wife. My children. I want to be there when he falls.”
Others stood. Dozens of them.
Marcus looked at Claire.
She nodded.
“Anyone who wants to fight, we’ll find you a weapon. Anyone who doesn’t, you stay here with Lena.”
No one stayed behind.
The odds have never been worse. And somewhere in the dark, the clock is ticking toward zero.
- Writer
