Every second costing blood.
And Wu knows it.
He’s been pulling us exactly where he wants us from the beginning.
The hidden shaft beyond the wall is narrow.
Industrial.
Old steel ladders descending into darkness beneath Bucharest.
Cold air rises from below,carrying the sharp scent of antiseptic and burned circuitry.
And underneath it—
something worse.
Memory.
I stop at the edge of the shaft too long.
Clay notices immediately.
“You okay?”
No.
Not even close.
Because I remember this place now.
Children lined against these walls waiting for transport.
No talking.
No crying.
No eye contact.
Some so drugged they couldn’t stand on their own.
My stomach twists violently.
Gabriel studies the shaft depth with a flashlight.
“It goes deep.”
“That’s the idea,” Russ mutters.
He descends first without hesitation.
Rifle strapped tight across his back.
Gabriel follows next carrying the portable drives.
Then me.
Clay stays directly beneath me the entire climb.
