Cole's POV
The drive to the old industrial zone felt shorter than it should’ve been. Maybe because my pulse hadn’t stopped pounding since Raid said her signal had gone dead somewhere around here.
The air outside was sharp, carrying that familiar burnt scent of iron and chemical decay. The sky hung low, heavy with clouds that promised rain but never kept the promise.
We arrived at the edge of the zone. Towers of corroded pipes, old scaffolding, silent machines. The place hadn’t changed much, except now the lights were on. Someone had brought it back to life.
Raid glanced at me as we stepped out of the SUV.
“Same place from twelve years ago,” he muttered.
“I know.”
This place used to be hell — a lab, a hideout, a testing ground for the kind of things no one wanted to talk about.
And
