Ashes and Allies

Location: Tavara – Northern Outskirts, Safehouse Echo

Three hours after the Blackgate escape, Safehouse Echo was alive with motion. Hidden in the rugged hills of Tavara's northern outskirts, the facility was smaller but fortified—ex-military grade, with underground bunkers and triple-blind comm encryption. Damien's team had relocated fast, but the burn in his chest wouldn't cool. Something had shifted tonight. Something dangerous.

Ashford was seated at a metal desk in the command room, fingers dancing across the terminal. "The Falcon files are secure. Backups uploaded to five dark-net vaults. No traceable origin."

Nora leaned over him, inspecting the open data matrix. "We'll need to cross-verify with the internal logs from Carrow's previous operations. We still don't know how deep this goes."

Damien stood by the reinforced glass, overlooking the open terrain. His silhouette, backlit by the early dawn, looked carved from iron.

"I don't care how deep it goes anymore," he said, voice low. "We expose it. All of it. I'm done with half-truths and buried betrayals."

Nora glanced at him. "Even if it costs everything?"

Damien turned to face her. "Especially if it costs everything. Because it already has. My family's legacy. Your trust. Our safety. They've taken too much."

A sharp beep broke the tension—an incoming encrypted call. Logan patched it through. On-screen appeared a sharp-featured woman in her late 40s, elegant yet lethal.

"Damien Kane," she said with a faint smile. "Still breathing, I see."

Damien stiffened. "Director Sloane. Thought you were buried in the Langston debacle."

"I was," she replied calmly. "Until someone reactivated Falcon Protocol. That brought certain...old interests out of the shadows."

Nora stepped closer. "Are you with us or against us?"

Sloane's smile faded. "I'm with Tavara. But I won't lie—some of what you're chasing puts national sovereignty at risk. If the files go public, it won't just burn your enemies—it'll tear down the power grid we all rely on."

Damien narrowed his eyes. "That power grid was built on blood. On lies."

Sloane stared at him through the screen. "Then be ready to pay the price of cleansing it. Because from here on, Damien... the gloves come off."

The call ended with a flicker.

Ashford looked up. "She'll send someone. Maybe to help. Maybe to watch us fall."

Damien stepped forward. "Then we don't wait."

He turned to the map—one marked with red pins, each representing a confirmed traitor, a corrupted node, a threat.

"We go offensive. We dismantle the network from the inside. One cell at a time."

Nora nodded, her eyes flaring with purpose. "And we start with Harold."