Crossroads
Sabrina hadn't spoken a word since leaving the gallery in Melbourne.
She sat in the back of the armored vehicle as it wound silently through the dark streets of Melbourne. Nia sat across from her, tablet on her lap, though she wasn't looking at it. She was watching Sabrina.
The city was waking up outside, but Sabrina felt more asleep than ever, as if her body moved independently. At the same time, her mind repeated every second of the meeting with Leo—the photo, the videos, the drive still tucked into her coat like a live wire—forty-eight hours. It pulsed like a countdown.
When they reached the private hangar, Nia signaled the guards, who secured the perimeter. The jet was already prepped. Sabrina boarded without a word. Only once they were airborne did she finally speak.
"He's not lying. But he's not telling the full truth either."
Nia didn't respond. She waited.
Sabrina turned to face her. "Get me a full trace on those surveillance pings. Whoever has been tracking them—we need their names. Faces. Patterns. Everything."
Nia nodded. "Understood. And Leo?"
"Track his flight. Monitor any outgoing encrypted signals from his burner. He's baiting something. I want to know what."
They flew in silence after that.
The skies cleared when they landed in Sydney, but Sabrina's mind didn't. The security system reset in the farmhouse as they stepped through the door. But something in the air felt off.
She paused in the hallway.
"Run a fresh perimeter scan," she told Nia. "Manually."
Nia raised an eyebrow. "You felt it, too?"
Sabrina nodded. "Something's changed."
As Nia disappeared into the tech hub, Sabrina moved into her office and finally opened the drive.
The files were heavy—footage, dossiers, intercepted communications. Whoever had been watching the Pact wasn't just curious; they were methodical and surgical. There were timestamps, patterns of movement, and facial recognition tags.
Zay. Malik. Dante.
All compromised. Even Leo himself.
But there was more—images of her farmhouse. Satellite shots. Dated as recently as two weeks ago.
She closed the laptop, heart now thudding with something far colder than fear.
They had been found.
"Sab," Nia said from the doorway. "You need to see this."
Sabrina followed her into the command room. On-screen: heat signatures from the surrounding property. Two of them. Small. Distant. Watching.
"Whoever they are," Nia said, "they've been cycling shifts. Always two. Always just far enough to stay outside our scan threshold."
Sabrina stared at the screen. "Get me a drone. Silent mode. Close scan."
Nia hesitated. "You want to spook them?"
"No," Sabrina said. "I want to see what kind of enemy thinks they can out-hide me."
As Nia launched the drone, her tone shifted. "There's something else I want to ask you."
Sabrina didn't look away from the screen. "Go on."
"Xader."
Sabrina tensed slightly.
"How much do you trust him?" Nia asked.
A beat of silence stretched.
"I've asked myself the same question," Sabrina replied finally. "He's protected me. Funded me. Believed in me when no one else did."
"But?" Nia pressed.
"But he's a ghost. Wealthy, secretive, brilliant. And yet,, somehow—untouched. I've never seen his paper trail slip. Never seen a vulnerability."
Nia folded her arms. "He's our boss. But he doesn't act like one. Not really."
"He gave me Arkaline," Sabrina said. "But I've never felt like I owned it. It's like I was meant to... maintain it. Keep it warm."
"Do you think he's watching?"
"I know he is," Sabrina said. "The question is what he's waiting for."
The drone fed back a clear visual: two male and one female figures in a tactical stance. They were not just observers; they were operators.
Sabrina zoomed in. Their faces were masked, but the formation was familiar.
"I want them taken alive," she said.
Nia blinked. "Alive? Lets play their game"
"They're not ordinary watchers. This is a message. Someone wants me to know they're close."
Back in the command room, the 48-hour countdown echoed in her mind like a war drum.
She rubbed her temples, fatigue creeping in. She couldn't afford to doubt herself—or anyone around her.
"Reach out to Xader," she said.
Nia raised a brow. "With what message?"
Sabrina thought for a moment. "Tell him... I'm activating Protocol Grey."
Nia's lips parted in surprise. "That's full blackout."
"I know," Sabrina said, already walking away. "And make sure he knows the message isn't a request. It's a courtesy."
Sabrina paused for the first time in hours as the command doors shut behind her. Her reflection stared back from the hallway mirror. It was the same face but a different woman.
The game had changed. And she was done playing it by anyone else's rules.