The wind howled across the ice field, a relentless white curtain that reduced visibility to nothing. Rook stood at the edge of the frozen landscape, his eyes fixed on the distant shape of the facility that had emerged from the storm like a ghost from the deep. The Arctic was a place of extremes—endless daylight in summer, endless darkness in winter. Today, it was something in between: a gray, featureless void that seemed to swallow sound and light alike.
Sergei moved up beside him, his voice low and careful, barely audible over the wind. "The facility is three kilometers ahead. Wick's intelligence was precise—it's been operating for decades, completely off the grid."
Rook was quiet for a moment, his eyes still fixed on the distant structure. "Whoever's inside has been watching us from th
