Chapter 14 - The Architect's Trap
The trail led them high into the Swiss Alps, to a heavily fortified medical research facility buried deep inside a snow-capped mountain near Zurich. The facility was registered to a shell company owned by The Serpent’s Ring—an elite shadow organization that supplied black-market organs and bio-weapons to dictators and billionaires.
Under the cover of a blinding blizzard, Julian and Cora breached the outer perimeter. Julian moved like a silent god of death, dropping snipers with suppressed rifle shots while Cora bypassed the electronic security protocols using encrypted passwords she had harvested from Falcone's files.
They descended into the subterranean levels, where the temperature dropped below freezing. Frost covered the reinforced glass walls of the central laboratory. In the middle of the room sat a massive cryogenic stasis pod bathed in blue light.
Cora rushed to the pod glass, wiping away the condensation. Inside lay a woman in her late forties, preserved in suspended animation, her face an exact mirror image of Cora’s own.
"Mother..." Cora whispered, her tears freezing on her cheeks.
"She’s been asleep for twelve years, sister," a dark, melodic voice echoed from the shadows behind them.
Julian spun around, his weapon raised, but he froze dead in his tracks. The woman standing on the catwalk above them removed her gold mask, tossing it onto the metal floor.
May you like
She had dark eyes, razor-sharp cheekbones, and a scar running along her jawline.
Julian’s gun hand began to shake violently for the first time in his life. "Elena...?" he breathed, his voice breaking in sheer disbelief. "You... you died in my arms ten years ago..."
