“She was built to.”
Clay finally speaks.
Quiet.
Cold.
Terrifying.
“You know what your problem is?”
The operative’s smile fades slightly.
“You think programming matters more than choice.”
Then Clay fires.
One clean shot.
Straight through the man’s chest.
The operative drops backward into the fog instantly.
The other two operatives scatter for cover as Mason’s people open fire from the lower windows.
Chaos detonates across the vineyard again.
Clay grabs my hand hard and pulls me toward the balcony doors.
But before we disappear inside—
I look back toward the fallen operative in the fog.
And for one horrifying second—
I think I remember him.
Not his name.
Older now.
Harder.
But familiar.
57
Clay
The vineyard erupts into war.
Gunfire tears through fog and rain while Gabriel’s people engage Sentinel operatives moving through the grape rows below.
Searchlights cut across the Romanian countryside.
Shouting echoes through the estate.
And right in the middle of all of it—
