Chapter 18 - Breakdown

Holloway woke up gasping. His lungs burned. His head pounded, his vision was blurry as the world spun around him.

The house was tidy, no papers scattered, no furniture overturned. These guys knew what they were doing, it wasn't their fisrt time. The stench of gas clung to everything. His daughter. His grandson. Gone.

He groaned as he tried to stand, but the world tilted. He reached for his phone. gone. His gun. gone.

Holloway crawled out the room not being able to stand up yet, as he opened the door, something caught his eye. Scrawled across the wall in jagged, deliberate strokes:

"You were warned."

His stomach twisted. This was because of him. Because he went digging again. His sense of justice had already taken his wife and son away, and now it had taken his daughter and grandson too. History does repeat itself.

He forced himself to stand up, using the wall for balance. He stumbled outside, cold air hitting his face, cold air hitting his face. His hands clenched. He had a choice, go to Emma and Kath for help or go after them alone.

He already knew what he wanted to do.

Somewhere very far from Holloway's location, Jia head lolled forward, heavy, disoriented. The world around her was sterile, white. Her arms wouldn't move. Strapped down, dry blood on the back of her head.

The last thing she remembered, leaving the station, and the face of the boy she tried to protect.

She wasn't alone. Footsteps. Breathing.

Not a captor. Another prisoner. She turned around to see.

There a woman and a young boy, were tied.

The woman screamed at a man infornt of her, "Who are you? Why did you do this?."

The man looked at her, his face not visible, "Your father, we warned him, but he didn't stop, he kept digging. Looking for us. Searching for us."

The woman was confused, scared, "I don't know what you're talking about, but please let my son go, please I beg you, I'll do anything."

"Your son?." Maybe he'll make up for a good soldier.

The woman fell into silence, horrified. The silence was worse than screaming.

Jia was still dizzy, she couldn't understand everything that has been said. Then she noticed it. The wall across from her. A scratch, a symbol, faint but deliberate. It meant something.

A chill ran through her.

She was never supposed to be in this place.

Somewhere near where Jia was. Inside a 17th century office.

Two people sat together.

Darkness. A desk. A faint glow from an old lamp. Papers scattered. A voice.

"We warned him."

A rustle. A turn of a page.

"It won't be enough."

A pause.

"Then we bury them too."

The lamp clicked off.

Back at the police station Emma sat at her desk, unmoving.

She had nothing left to say. Nothing left to feel.

Jia was gone. Alex was in a coma. It all led back to Cain, the book, the damn eye watching for them.

Kath was hovering nearby, fidgeting. She didn't know how to deal with this version of Emma, Silent, Detached. Kath took her keys and went to the hospital where Alex was, she wanted to vent, even if it meant venting to someone in coma.

Thirty minutes after Kath left, Holloway stormed inside the station.

"Sir do you need something?". Officer said.

"I'm here for Emma where's she?." Holloway said, barely holding his ground.

"I'll go and check with her, wait here please." The officer smiled before turning and going to Emma's office.

After five minutes Emma walked out of her office, drained, her body was there but her mind.. her mind was no where to be seen.

Holloway felt something was wrong, " What happened, he asked?." Bracing himself for whatever was coming next.

Emma fidgeted, then.

"Mr. Holloway, I think we should drop this case." She reached her breaking point.

Holloway's face darkened, his jaw clenched, his hands turned into fists, his knuckles turned white. Then, with barely contained anger.

"You came to me for answers, I opened my door."

"You dragged me back to this case, I offered my help."

"MY DAMN DAUGHTER AND GRANDSON ARE NOW GONE BECAUSE OF YOU AND ALEX, AND NOW YOU'RE TELLING ME WE SHOULD QUIT?????."

Emma's eyes widened.

"IF YOU'RE THAT EASY TO SCARE THEN PUT YOUR BADGE ON THE TABLE AND LEAVE."

Holloway said in a low voice disgusted voice.

"You."

"Don't."

"Dessserve it."

Emma made a grave mistake, she had forgotten the oath she took when she firs started this job, but it was too late now.

She stood frozen, Holloway's words cutting deeper than she thought possible. He stormed past her, shoving the door open so hard it slammed against the wall.

The station was silent. Officers who had overheard the argument looked away, pretending to be busy. No one wanted to get caught in the fallout.

Emma's hands trembled. She swallowed the lump in her throat and turned back to her office, shutting the door behind her.

For the first time since this started, she considered it, walking away. Letting it all go.

But then she remembered the book. The explosion. The boy smiling before he turned into a bomb.

Jia, strapped to a chair somewhere.

Alex, still in that hospital bed.

Kath had gone to see him. Right now, Emma couldn't face that. But maybe Kath could.

Kath sat slouched in the chair beside Alex's bed, arms crossed, one foot tapping anxiously against the floor.

The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room.

Alex looked… small. Hooked up to machines, his usual sharp wit and relentless energy stripped away. She hated seeing him like this.

Kath sighed, rubbing her face. "You're really making me talk to a coma patient, huh?" she muttered.

She leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.

"Holloway's losing it. Emma's shutting down. And me? I just wanna scream at someone."

Her eyes drifted to the window, to the dark city beyond.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now, Alex?"

Silence.

Then-

Her gaze dropped to Alex's hand.

His fingers were curled slightly. Too relaxed for a fist, but not fully open either.

Like he had been holding onto something.

Kath frowned. Alex was in a coma, he hadn't moved since the explosion. So… how?

A creeping unease settled in her stomach.

Slowly, carefully, she pried his fingers open.

A small, crumpled piece of paper was inside.

Kath's breath hitched. Her hands shook as she unfolded it.

"Veritas Foundation. The basement."

Her mind reeled. Veritas. That name. She had seen it before.

In the book.

A line surfaced in her memory, something cryptic, something that made no sense at the time.

> "The angel does not fall, nor rise, it returns to Veritas, where all truths are buried."

She stared at the words on the paper.

Veritas. Truth. Buried.

Alex shouldn't have had this. He couldn't have had this.

Kath turned, scanning the dim hospital room. Her skin prickled.

Someone put this here.

A realization struck fast, sharp, undeniable.

The book wasn't just a relic of the past. It was a guide, a connectionbetweenthe past and the present.

And now?

She had the destination.

Kath shot up from her chair, her heart hammering. She fumbled for her phone, dialing.

Emma picked up after two rings.

Kath didn't waste time.

"I know where they are."

Kath gripped her phone tighter, hearing Emma's breath hitch on the other end.

"I know where they are," Kath repeated, her voice sharper this time.

Silence.

Then, Emma exhaled, but it wasn't relief. It was something heavier.

"…Where?"

Kath hesitated, suddenly aware of the weight of her own words. She looked at Alex again, still in a coma. Still unable to tell them how he got that note.

Who put it there?

The thought gnawed at her, but there was no time to dwell.

"Veritas," she said. "The basement."

Another pause. Then- Emma hung up.

Kath cursed under her breath and shoved her phone into her pocket. She wasn't letting Emma spiral again.

She stormed out of the hospital, heading straight for the station.

Back at the precinct, Emma hadn't moved.

Her fingers were still curled around the phone. Her mind buzzed.

Veritas.

Kath had a lead. A real, undeniable lead.

And yet, she couldn't move.

The weight of Holloway's words from earlier still clung to her like shackles.

"If you're that easy to scare, put your badge on the table and leave."

Maybe he was right.

Maybe she wasn't cut out for this.

The door suddenly slammed open.

Kath.

Her eyes were blazing, her expression borderline furious.

"You're not doing this," Kath said immediately, stepping inside. "You're not shutting down on me."

Emma's jaw tensed. "Kath-"

"No." Kath strode up to the desk, slamming her hands down. "The officers told me what happened when I was gone. I don't give a shit what Holloway said. You're Emma Lane. The same woman who pulled a gun on a guy twice her size when she thought he was threatening me. The same woman who's been fighting this case like her life depends on it. So get up."

Emma looked away. "I-"

Kath grabbed her wrist, forcing her to look. "Jia is alive. Alex is in a coma, and someone, someone put that note in his hand."

Emma blinked.

Her breath stilled.

Someone put the note there.

It wasn't Alex.

The implication hit her like ice down her spine.

Someone wanted them to find Veritas.

Someone was leading them there.

Emma stood.

"Kath snatched her coat. 'We need to move. Now-"

The door opened again.

Holloway.

He stood there, looking tired. Not angry. Just tired.

His eyes met Emma's.

He exhaled.

"I shouldn't have said that," he muttered, stepping inside. "You're not a coward."

Emma swallowed. The words sat heavy in the air.

But she shook her head.

"No," she admitted. "You were right."

Holloway frowned.

"I let it get to me," Emma continued, finally saying it out loud. "I let it get in my head. And I almost walked away."

She met his gaze again. This time, steadier.

"But I'm not walking away now."

Holloway studied her for a moment, then gave a single nod.

"…Good."

Kath, impatient, finally snapped, "Great. Now that we've had our emotional breakthrough, we need to move."

She turned to Holloway.

"We know where Jia is."

Holloway's expression hardened instantly. "Where?"

Emma took a deep breath.

"Veritas Foundation."

A dark flicker crossed Holloway's eyes.

"…Shit."

Kath grabbed her coat. "We don't have time to waste."

Holloway nodded sharply. "Then let's go."

No more hesitation. No more doubts.

They moved.

The hunt was back on.