Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 852 - 854

Chapter 852: Chapter 854

The bookstore they had been hiding in was compromised. After the news broadcast, it was only a matter of time before the wrong people traced Jude’s presence to the area. So Elias had split the group, scattering operatives to different points in the city. Jude had taken the most dangerous route, toward the heart of the web they were trying to dismantle. Lynx had made her presence known. She wasn’t afraid to go public. That meant she wanted to draw him in, manipulate the board until he had no choice but to move where she wanted him. But Jude had been taught by people far colder than Clarissa Vale. He’d learned how to play a game without rules, and more importantly, how to change the board completely.

He approached a small diner on the edge of the industrial zone, a place open all night and empty of anything but silence and old memories. It was the kind of place where people disappeared, and secrets waited under cracked tiles and dusty corners. He stepped inside and found an old man behind the counter, polishing a glass with the same piece of cloth for the last hour. Jude gave him a nod, and the man returned it without a word, disappearing through the back door and locking it behind him. The place was theirs now.

Elias was already at a booth near the back, a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and a folded map spread across the table. The lines were drawn in red, circled and crisscrossed in ways that only meant one thing, every safehouse they had relied on, every contact, was being systematically eliminated.

"We’re being boxed in," Elias said as Jude slid into the booth. "Three of our outer safe zones went dark this morning. No communications. No backup."

"They’re purging the past," Jude muttered. "Tying up loose ends. Lynx isn’t just cleaning house, she’s trying to erase every trace of what we used to be."

Elias nodded. "And we’re next."

Jude reached into his pocket and pulled out the flash drive. "There’s something in here we missed. Something she wants hidden."

They plugged the drive into a burner laptop and scrolled through the files again. Coordinates, operation codes, supply manifests. Most were data points Jude recognized. But one file stood out now, hidden behind a double-encrypted firewall. It had no label, no origin. Just a date.

Two weeks from today.

He leaned back. "She’s planning something. Big."

Elias frowned, tapping a few keys. "It’s an execution schedule. No names, just numbers. Dozens of numbers."

Jude’s jaw tightened. "Asset termination?"

"Could be. Could also be a transfer. A prison sweep. Or something worse."

They needed eyes on the inside, and they needed them fast. There was only one person left who might help, a ghost named Mina, someone Jude hadn’t spoken to in years. She had been one of them once, a master of infiltration, silent and invisible. After the fall of the original syndicate, she’d gone underground, vanishing completely. But if anyone could help them find out what the file meant, it was her.

Finding Mina meant going to the edge of the territory, to a forgotten block near the river where the buildings leaned like old men and windows were covered with sheets instead of curtains. The neighborhood was silent, watching, always watching. Elias stayed back to keep their location secure. Jude went alone.

He approached the building just before dawn. It looked empty, like the others, but Jude knew better. He climbed the fire escape, avoiding the creaky steps, and knocked three times, once slow, twice quick. The window opened.

A hand grabbed his shirt and yanked him in before he could blink. He hit the floor hard, rolled, and came up facing a blade.

"Mina," he said breathlessly, "still dramatic, I see."

The woman holding the knife was lean, sharp-eyed, and unamused. She looked at him like a memory she wanted to forget.

"Jude," she said flatly. "You’re lucky I didn’t cut your throat."

"Wouldn’t be the worst thing that’s happened this week."

She didn’t smile. "What do you want?"

He handed her the flash drive. "Help me decode this. You’re the only one left who can."

She took it, suspicious. "Why now?"

"Because Lynx is back. And she’s not hiding anymore."

That got her attention.

She moved quickly, plugging the drive into a dusty terminal covered in stickers and old dust. The screen lit up with lines of code and encrypted pathways. She moved through them like a pianist, fingers dancing, breaking through the layers one by one. After a few minutes, her eyes narrowed.

"This... isn’t a schedule."

Jude stepped closer. "Then what is it?"

"It’s a prototype list."

"For weapons?"

"For children."

Jude felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. "What do you mean?"

She clicked open a hidden file. Images appeared, medical scans, profiles, test results. All young. All under the age of fifteen.

"These aren’t ordinary kids. These are candidates."

"For recruitment?"

"For modification."

He swore under his breath. "She’s rebuilding the program."

"She’s perfecting it," Mina said. "No mistakes this time. No emotional instability. Pure control."

Jude leaned over the screen, fists clenched. "We need to stop this."

Mina looked at him, and for the first time, her mask cracked. "You’re not going to survive this, Jude. You know that, right?"

"I don’t need to survive it," he said quietly. "I just need to finish it."

They left together. The city was waking up, the streets beginning to fill with people who didn’t know the war happening in the shadows around them. Jude and Mina met Elias near the old train station, a place where signals couldn’t be traced and surveillance was blind.

"We found the location," Mina said. "South compound. Beneath the East Hydroelectric Plant. Disguised as a maintenance facility."

Elias looked at the file. "And the children?"

"They’re being moved there next week. For testing."

"No time to call for help," Jude said. "No one left to trust."

"Then we do it ourselves," Elias said.