CHAPTER 61

The Neuro-Hack

The air in the underground lab was thick with the scent of burning circuits and stale electricity.

I kept my gun raised as Riley and I moved through the narrow corridor, the dim blue lights overhead flickering. The walls were lined with servers, humming like an angry swarm. Somewhere in this maze of forgotten tech and discarded projects was the one man who could help me—if we didn't get killed first.

Riley wiped sweat from her forehead, her breathing sharp. Her wound from the last fight hadn't fully healed, but she refused to slow down. That was Riley. Stubborn as hell.

"You sure this is the place?" she asked, her voice low.

"If it isn't, we're about to piss off the wrong people," I muttered.

She smirked. "Wouldn't be the first time."

We reached a rusted metal door, the words NO ENTRY barely visible under layers of dust. Riley cracked her knuckles, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, palm-sized explosive.

"Subtle," I said dryly.

She arched a brow. "You want subtle, or you want inside?"

I sighed. "Blow it."

A few seconds later, the charge detonated, sending a blast of dust and metal fragments into the hallway. Alarms screamed to life, but we were already moving.

Inside, the lab was a wreck of outdated monitors, half-dismantled machinery, and piles of paper that looked like they hadn't been touched in years. And in the center of it all, hunched over a console with thick goggles covering his eyes, was the man we had come for.

Dr. Isaac Vance.

His hands moved quickly over a holographic display, barely flinching at our entrance. "If you were trying to be discreet," he said, "you failed spectacularly."

"Wasn't trying," Riley shot back.

Vance finally looked up, pushing his goggles onto his forehead. His silver hair was wild, his face unshaven, but his eyes were sharp. "Nathan," he mused, studying me like a puzzle he wasn't sure how to solve. "It's been a long time."

I tensed. "I don't remember you."

He smirked. "Exactly."

I took a step closer. "I need my memories back. All of them."

His smirk faded. "That's a bad idea."

I grabbed the collar of his lab coat and yanked him forward. "I didn't come here for a lecture, Vance."

He didn't fight me. He just sighed. "Do you have any idea what The Oath did to your mind? What they buried?"

I gritted my teeth. "I intend to find out."

Riley folded her arms. "Can you do it or not?"

Vance pulled away from my grip, rubbing his neck. "I can. But there's a reason they locked those memories away. Your brain was rewired—damaged on purpose. If I force those blocks open, the strain could fry your neural pathways." He held up a finger. "Which means—"

"Which means I could die," I finished.

Vance nodded.

Riley shifted beside me, her body tense. "Nathan…"

I knew what she was going to say. She wanted me to stop, to think this through. But there was no thinking. No stopping.

Emily was still out there, still under The Oath's control. And the only way to save her was to understand exactly what they had done—to her and to me.

I met Riley's gaze. "I have to do this."

A muscle twitched in her jaw, but she gave me a small nod. "Then let's get it over with."

Vance sighed. "Fine. But if you start convulsing or screaming in agony, don't say I didn't warn you."

He gestured to a metal table in the center of the room. The machine beside it looked like something out of a nightmare—wires, electrodes, a thick, helmet-like device designed to dig into the deepest recesses of the mind.

I exhaled slowly, then lay down.

Cold metal pressed against my back. My fingers curled into fists as Vance attached the electrodes to my temples and the base of my skull. The helmet lowered over my head, the edges pressing uncomfortably into my skin.

Riley stood beside me, arms crossed. She looked calm, but her fingers tapped against her leg—a nervous tic she probably didn't even notice.

"Don't die, okay?" she muttered.

I forced a smirk. "What, no motivational speech?"

She rolled her eyes. "You already made up your mind. Just come back."

Vance flicked a switch. "Alright, Nathan. Let's take a walk through your nightmares."

The machine powered up, humming with energy.

Pain shot through my skull.

I gasped as electricity surged into my brain, burning, twisting, ripping through the barriers in my mind like a wildfire. Images flashed before my eyes—faces I didn't recognize, voices whispering, screaming.

A little girl laughing—Emily.

A darkened room, men in suits, a voice saying, He'll never remember.

The Oath.

A flash of pain—screaming.

I convulsed, my body seizing against the restraints.

Riley shouted something, but her voice was distant, warped. The world blurred, twisted, shattered—

Then everything went black.