Violent.
Effective.
Thunder rolls across Bucharest overhead.
And suddenly—
another memory hits me hard.
Not a fragment.
A full memory.
Wu standing beside me when I was maybe thirteen.
His voice calm.
Controlled.
“You will either become Sentinel’s greatest failure…”
A pause.
“Or its future.”
My breathing catches sharply.
Clay notices instantly.
“Hannah?”
I stare at the communications tower through the rain.
And for the first time—
I finally understand something terrifying.
Wu never feared my memories returning.
He was waiting to see what I’d choose once they did.
59
Clay
Rain pours across the abandoned communications yard as we move into position around the old Romanian bunker.
Thunder rolls overhead in Bucharest while fog curls between rusted rail cars and collapsed Soviet buildings surrounding the communications tower.
Everything about this place feels dead.
Which means Sentinel probably buried horrors underneath it.
Russ crouches beside the broken warehouse wall studying the patrol rotations through night optics.
“Six exterior guards.”
Lucas adjusts the rifle sling over his injured shoulder.
