Page 364 of Scars of Fate

Voice recordings.

Retinal images.

Everything he needed.

He had chosen us because he believed he could control Lucas through me.

And me through Lucas.

Hawk connected a portable biometric reader to the terminal.

Lucas and I placed our fingers against the scanner.

The tablet camera mapped our eyes.

Then we leaned toward the microphone together.

“Every life carries tomorrow.”

The terminal paused.

BIOMETRIC VOICE MATCH CONFIRMED.

FINGERPRINTS CONFIRMED.

RETINAL PATTERNS CONFIRMED.

AEGIS AUTHORIZED.

The countdown stopped at:

24:17.

For one heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then the temperature inside the Geneva dispersal unit began to fall.

The outer casing stopped opening.

Slowly, it began to close.

The biological warning changed.

DISPERSAL DISABLED.

BACKUP CONTAINMENT ENGAGED.

Everyone inside the aircraft exhaled.

I closed my eyes.

“We stopped it.”

“Not permanently,” Hawk said.

A second message appeared.

LOCAL MANUAL OVERRIDE AVAILABLE.