Page 105 of Rescuing Ally: Part 2

Closer to our targets. Closer to our women.

The hunt begins.

THIRTY-FIVE

The Stranger’s Gift

ALLY

Heavy boots echofrom the corridor, approaching at a clipped pace. My time runs out as the lab door hisses open, admitting four fresh guards with rifles slung across tactical vests.

“Back to your cell.” The lead guard gestures with his weapon.

As they reapply restraints to my wrists, I look back at the terminal one last time. The quantum network sits there, innocent and deadly, waiting for deployment. Malfor will activate it, thinking he’s gained ultimate power.

Instead, he’ll have armed his own destruction.

“They’re not coming,” Elkin says as the guards prepare to lead me away. It’s not a question.

“No. But what I built in their memory will outlive all of us.”

The guards march me back through silent corridors, their grips unnecessarily tight against my arms. We’re halfway to the cellblock when the floor beneath us shudders—a distant vibration that ripples through concrete like a stone dropped in still water.

The lights flicker once, twice, and then stabilize.

“Check that.” The lead guard stops, head tilting as he listens to his earpiece. “Was that?—”

Static breaks across their communication system, fragmenting whatever response comes through. The guards exchange glances, uneasiness bleeding through professional facades.

Another tremor rolls beneath our feet, stronger this time. Dust sifts from ceiling joints, powdering our shoulders with concrete snow. The guards’ radios erupt with overlapping voices—too garbled to distinguish words, but the tone is unmistakable.

The first whispers of chaos.

They practically throw me into my cell, door slamming with that familiar magnetic thunk. The lead guard barks something into his radio, then gestures for the others to follow as they hurry back down the corridor, leaving only one man on watch.

Jenna lifts her head in the adjacent cell, eyes finding mine through the bars. No words pass between us, but understanding flows in that silent exchange—something’s happening. Something outside Malfor’s meticulous control.

“You’re not winning,” I whisper into the darkness, thinking of the quantum time bomb I’ve planted in his digital infrastructure. “Not tonight. Not ever.”

The remaining guard paces before our cells, hand resting on his sidearm, eyes constantly checking his radio. The building trembles again, and somewhere in the distance, an alarm begins to wail.

Malfor’s voice cuts through the cellblock speakers, calm despite the chaos unfolding around us.

“Containment breach in sector seven. All security personnel to assigned stations. This is not a drill.”

The guard’s radio crackles to life, spitting fragmented orders that send him running toward the exit, leaving our cellblock unguarded for the first time since our arrival.

“What’s happening?” Rebel pulls herself upright, split face gleaming wetly in the dim light.

“I don’t know.” The admission costs nothing now. “But whatever it is, Malfor didn’t plan for it.”

“Another rescue attempt?” Malia uncurls from her protective huddle, something like awareness returning to her vacant expression.

“After what happened to Charlie team?” Mia’s voice cracks with disbelief. “Who would try again?”

The memory of exploding helicopters cuts through me like a blade, but underneath the pain is something else—the cold satisfaction of knowing I’ve planted a weapon in Malfor’s heart. Even if no rescue comes, even if we all die here, my sabotage will ensure he doesn’t win.

I did it for you.Grief and fury braiding together in my chest.I’ll never see you again, but I made sure your deaths meant something.