Chapter 7
487 Words
THE PEOPLE BEHIND ORACLE
The helicopters descended through the clouds.
Elara counted four.
Lucian counted six.
“You missed two,” he said.
“I was distracted.”
“By what?”
She looked at him.
“You.”
For half a second, Lucian forgot about the helicopters.
Then a red laser appeared across his chest.
“Down!”
He pulled Elara behind the Ferrari as bullets tore through the windshield.
Glass exploded across the road.
Elara crouched beside him.
“Six helicopters,” she whispered.
“I told you.”
“You're enjoying being right.”
“Not particularly.”
He removed a small device from his coat and pressed it.
The nearest helicopter suddenly lost power.
It dropped.
Elara watched it disappear behind the mountains.
“What did you just do?”
“Made them blind.”
“To everything?”
“For ninety seconds.”
“You built that?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Lucian looked at her.
“Your father.”
Before she could respond, another explosion shook the mountain.
A convoy emerged from the tunnel behind them.
Black armored vehicles.
Elara stared.
“More enemies?”
Lucian checked his weapon.
“Worse.”
A man stepped from the first vehicle.
He wore a perfectly tailored charcoal suit and carried no visible weapon.
Yet every soldier around him stood like they were afraid to breathe.
He looked directly at Elara.
“Miss Veyne.”
Elara stood.
Lucian caught her wrist.
“Don't.”
The stranger smiled.
“You finally found her, Lucian.”
Lucian's expression became cold.
“Victor.”
Elara looked between them.
“You know him?”
“I know what he does.”
Victor smiled.
“I prefer to say I manage problems.”
“And what am I?”
Victor's eyes settled on her.
“You're not a problem.”
He paused.
“You're the solution.”
Elara felt a chill.
“To what?”
Victor stepped closer.
“To a world that has become too unpredictable.”
Lucian moved between them.
“You're not taking her.”
Victor laughed softly.
“You still think you have a choice.”
Lucian's phone rang.
He answered.
A voice spoke from the other end.
“Sir, we've lost control of ORACLE.”
Lucian's face changed.
“How bad?”
“It's accessing every intelligence network in Europe.”
Elara looked at Victor.
He wasn't surprised.
That frightened her more than the helicopters.
“You planned this.”
Victor smiled.
“No.”
He looked directly at Elara.
“She did.”
Elara's blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Victor turned toward the mountains.
“The original architect.”
A screen illuminated inside one of the armored vehicles.
A woman's face appeared.
Elara stared at it.
She knew that face.
She had seen it in the mirror every morning of her life.
Victor whispered:
“Your mother.”
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