Chapter 4 - The Ghost of Zurich"He’s dead," Adrien muttered, pressing his forehead against the cool glass of the nursery window. "I put a bullet through his left lung and threw his body into the Limmat River."
"People like Vance don't die easily, boss," Marcus muttered, cocking his submachine gun and checking the clip. "What do we do? The safe room is down the hall, but if they bypassed our firewalls, they probably have the override codes for the vault doors too."
Adrien turned away from the window. His gaze fell on the three triplets.
They had stopped clicking. They were sitting up in their cribs now, their little heads turning in absolute unison toward the nursery door, their eyes wide, blank, and glowing faintly in the dim light.
Glowing.
Adrien’s stomach plummeted. It wasn't a trick of the light. Beneath the skin of their temples, tiny, pulsing blue veins traced geometric patterns—the exact same pattern etched onto the microchip he held in his hand.
They hadn't just been kidnapped or targeted.
They had been modified before they were even born.
"Elena," Adrien said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. He walked over to the terrified maid. "Look at me."
The woman raised her tear-stained face.
"How long has Sophie been carrying that doll?"
"I—I told you, three days! She found it—"
"Don't lie to me," Adrien growled, gripping her chin with fingers like steel vices. "Nobody gets past my perimeter security without inside access. That doll isn't a toy. It’s a relay station. And your daughter didn't just 'find' it in the trash chute. Who gave it to her?"
Elena’s lips quivered. She looked down at Sophie, who had suddenly gone entirely limp in her arms, her eyes rolling back into her head.
"A... a man," Elena sobbed, breaking down completely. "A man with a scar across his neck. He gave her a hundred dollars outside the supermarket on Tuesday. He said... he said if she brought the doll into the Moretti estate and left it near the nursery, he’d pay for my mother’s cancer treatment."
Adrien released her chin so fast she stumbled backward. He didn't feel rage anymore. He felt a cold, calculated clarity.
"Marcus," Adrien ordered, turning to his head of security. "Take the back service tunnel. Take the kids, Elena, and Dr. Cole. Get them to the bunker at the old docks."
"And you, boss?"
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Adrien pulled a second pistol from his waistline, checking the chamber with a sharp, metallic clack. He reached up and grabbed the heavy gold signet ring off his pinky finger, pulling out a hidden blade built into the band.
"I’m going to go welcome an old friend back from the dead."
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