A rift in the code
Chapter 18 – A Rift in the Code
The morning came with a restless chill, the kind that seeped into bones and bred suspicion. The depot had been quiet, but the air inside now pulsed with something unspoken. Amara Cole sat on the edge of the cot, wrapping her jacket tighter, eyes darting between the sleeping figures—Elias, Nyra, Mason, and Michael.
She hadn't slept.
Not after that message from West.
Not after hearing that Elias was the blueprint for the Phoenix Protocol.
He was never just a lawyer… never just a man.
And still—she trusted him.
But a question now dug at her: What else did Elias not know about himself?
---
Elias woke with a start, sweat dampening the back of his neck. His dreams had been fractured images—flashes of needles, dark corridors, machines humming like lullabies, and faces he didn't recognize. Faces watching him.
He looked at Amara. She was awake too, tense.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked.
"Didn't want to," she replied.
He sat up, rubbing his face. "I didn't ask for this, Amara."
"I know."
"Do you?" he whispered.
She reached out, touched his hand. "I don't care what they turned you into. You're still you. You saved me before you even knew the whole story. That's who you are."
He blinked slowly, like her words physically steadied him.
But from the corner, Nyra watched. She had heard it all.
Her hands clenched.
---
Later that day
Mason managed to repair part of the corrupted message. What played next added a new layer of fire to the already smoldering pile of secrets.
West Solarin's voice returned.
"There's one person who knows the truth. He was part of the engineering team—his name was Jonathan Creed. Alias: Revenant."
Michael's head jerked up. "Revenant? That's just a ghost story. He's a myth."
"He's not," Nyra said quietly. "I worked under him. Until he vanished."
West's voice continued: "If you find him, tell him. Don't trust anyone."
The message clicked off again. Static.
Everyone stared at one another.
It wasn't Elias.
It had never been Elias.
The "him" West had mentioned was Revenant—Jonathan Creed.
---
That night
The team split to gather supplies from a nearby black-market alley in the city's underbelly. Nyra and Elias walked together, and Amara stayed behind with Mason and Michael to decode what little remained of the server logs.
Under a buzzing streetlamp, Nyra handed Elias a small folded note.
He opened it and read the message: "They're going to betray you. One by one."
Elias frowned. "Where did this come from?"
"I found it tucked in the server bag. I thought you should know."
He stared at her. "Why didn't you show the others?"
"Because I trust you," she said softly. "More than I trust them."
Elias stepped back. "Nyra—"
"I'm not asking for anything," she interrupted, her voice shaking slightly. "Just… if things go south, I'll be the one watching your back."
She turned and walked ahead.
And Elias stood still, unsure if the weight in his chest was dread… or confusion.
---
Meanwhile
Amara sat with the pieces of West's files, scanning through coordinates and symbols—until something clicked.
A map.
Marked with red dots.
One of them was in Vienna.
They're still headed there.
She whispered to herself, "We find Revenant. We find the truth."
---
The train to Vienna moved fast, cutting through old country and snow-draped silence. But inside their private compartment, the silence between the group was anything but peaceful.
Amara sat across from Elias, eyes flicking between his resting hand and the landscape beyond the window. Nyra was further down the aisle, pretending to read, but her fingers were white around the edges of the book. Mason and Michael were deep in quiet conversation, poring over the decrypted map West had left behind.
There was a storm brewing—and everyone could feel it.
---
In Vienna
The address marked on West's map was an old library hidden beneath a crumbling chapel—long since abandoned, at least to the public. But it wasn't books they found beneath the stone archways and dust. It was data—cold, digitized, and encrypted behind layers of 90s security protocols.
Jonathan Creed had been here.
They stepped inside a small glass room tucked behind the stacks, and there—on an ancient monitor—was a flickering icon labeled:
"Protocol Fragment: Revenant // Solarin_Audio_Last_Contact"
Amara's hands trembled as she clicked play.
---
West Solarin's voice, fractured by time, filled the air.
"If you find this, you've found Jonathan. He'll deny it. He always does. But he knows everything—he saw the blueprints before Elias was even brought in."
She paused, breath shaky. Then:
"And if Silas finds out Jonathan is alive, he'll kill him. He already tried once."
Michael looked up sharply. "Wait. Silas?"
Elias's brows drew together. "You mean Silas Creed?"
The screen responded with another clip:
"Yes. His brother."
---
Silence.
Everything shifted in that moment.
Mason turned slowly to Elias. "Silas Creed… the politician who's been lobbying against Daedalus oversight?"
"Who helped fund the Phoenix trials… off-the-books," Nyra added grimly. "He's the one who made me disappear."
Elias stepped back, like the air had turned to glass. "All this time… I knew Silas. I trusted him in my early days. He offered me a case once. He even recommended me for the firm's ethical review board…"
Amara stared. "That's how they kept tabs on you."
West's final words came through again:
"Tell him. Don't trust anyone."
---
The meaning was finally clear.
Jonathan Creed was the one she meant. Tell him.
But it wasn't just a warning about Daedalus. It was about his own brother.
Amara whispered, "She was warning him about Silas. She knew Silas was coming back to finish what he started."
Elias sat down heavily. "We're walking into a family war."
"And we're standing in the crossfire," Michael said.
---
Later, alone
Nyra found Elias staring at an old photo left in the corner of the room—Jonathan and Silas, young and laughing. A future neither of them knew would collapse.
"You okay?" she asked softly.
"No," he answered. "But I will be."
Nyra stepped closer. "I meant what I said before. I trust you. Even if the others start to question."
Elias didn't respond at first. Then:
"I think Amara's the only one who sees who I really am."
Nyra's face shifted—but only slightly. "Then I hope she's right."
She walked away before he could see the flicker of hurt on her face.
---
Far away, in a surveillance room lit by dim monitors
Silas Creed stared at the footage coming through a hacked feed.
"They've found Jonathan," his aide said. "What now?"
Silas's smile was all teeth and no warmth.
"Now? We bury them both."