Chapter 698
Beatrice stared at the small red thermal signature on the screen representing Eliza’s beating heart. A hot tear spilled over her lashes, cutting a clean line through the dust and blood on her cheek.
Her fingers slowly uncurled.
The Glock slipped from her hands and hit the thick carpet with a muffled thud.
Cassian smiled — a terrifying, victorious expression. He kicked the gun across the room.
He reached down and grabbed Beatrice’s jaw with brutal force, tilting her face up to meet his.
“This is how capital works, my dear,” Cassian whispered. “Compassion is a liability.”
The two agents rushed forward, seized Beatrice by the shoulders, and slammed her back onto the floor.
This time there was no hesitation. The agent drove the needle into the vein on Beatrice’s arm and pushed the plunger down.
The freezing liquid flooded her bloodstream. Her vision blurred instantly. The strength drained from her muscles like water through cracked glass.
As the darkness dragged her under, Beatrice forced her heavy, blood-stained fingers up to her ear.
She brushed against her diamond earring and pressed the hidden micro-switch twice.
A single, untraceable blind SOS signal disappeared into the encrypted void.
Cassian turned his back on his unconscious wife. He walked out of the room. The heavy door locked behind him, sealing the tomb.
The atomic clock on the wall of the Swiss safehouse ticked with ruthless precision.
11:50 PM.
Dallas stood before the reinforced, bulletproof window. The violent blizzard slammed against the glass outside. He reached up and yanked his black tie loose, ripping the top button of his shirt open. A suffocating, heavy dread sat at the bottom of his stomach.
He turned around.
Eliza was sitting on the edge of the heavy tactical sofa. Her face was pale, the dark circles beneath her eyes stark against her skin.
The violent rage in Dallas’s chest melted instantly into a crushing wave of protectiveness.
He crossed the room and dropped to one knee in front of her. He took her freezing hands in his and rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles, generating warmth.
“As soon as this storm breaks,” Dallas murmured, his voice a deep, reassuring rumble, “the stealth chopper is taking us out. We are leaving Europe. You and the baby are safe.”
Eliza forced the corners of her mouth into a fragile smile. She nodded, but her dark eyes kept drifting over his shoulder, drawn obsessively back to the atomic clock.
Gideon’s countdown was a physical weight crushing her lungs.
At exactly 11:55 PM, the quiet hum of the safehouse was violently shattered.
A high-frequency, ear-splitting alarm erupted from the ceiling speakers. The normal white lights cut out instantly, replaced by a strobing, blood-red emergency glow. The AI system’s mechanical voice blared through the room: Warning. Unknown chemical agent detected in external ventilation. Initiating total lockdown.
Dallas’s pupils blew wide open.
His combat instincts, forged in the bloodiest war zones on earth, hijacked his brain. He shoved Eliza behind his broad back, his right hand drawing his tactical sidearm in a blur of motion.
Shields kicked the living room doors open. A squad of heavily armored operatives poured in behind him.
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