Location; Amazon Jungle, near Santarém – Nightfall
The jungle was a living, breathing entity—one that didn't welcome visitors.
Under the dim light of a blood-red moon, Damien guided Nora through the dense foliage. Every rustle, every snap of a twig, sent their fingers twitching toward their weapons. Behind them, Mateo's team cleared their trail with calculated silence.
"Where the hell is Leona?" Damien growled, scanning the area again.
"We were only two minutes behind her when we split paths," Nora replied, voice tight. "Someone was waiting for her. This wasn't random."
Damien stopped. "This was a trap."
Before Nora could respond, a sharp whistle echoed through the air—then silence.
Three of Mateo's men dropped without a sound, tranquilizer darts in their necks. Nora ducked instinctively, rolling behind a thick trunk. Damien went flat, pulling a blade from his boot as figures dropped from the canopy above.
Camouflaged in vines and soot, the attackers wore patches bearing an unfamiliar crest—two silver ravens encircling a black flame.
"Who are they?" Nora hissed.
Damien's voice was cold. "They're not Revenant's men. This emblem… belongs to the Carvalhos."
"The Tavaran noble family?" she blinked. "They were neutral."
"Not anymore," he muttered.
Gunfire erupted behind them. Mateo's remaining men returned fire, but they were surrounded. Nora leapt out, a precise shot hitting one of the attackers square in the chest. Damien followed, knives flashing like silver lightning in the moonlight.
It was chaos—brief but deadly.
By the time silence returned, four of the attackers lay motionless. But Leona was still gone.
Damien picked up one of the fallen's comm devices and activated the last recording.
"…bring the Sinclair girl to Base Sigma. The Director wants her alive. She holds the key. Do not kill unless ordered."
"Key to what?" Nora murmured.
Damien's gaze darkened. "Genesis Veil. The Carvalhos aren't just involved—they're frontlining it."
They regrouped inside a camouflaged outpost hidden within the jungle's rock face. Mateo was wounded but conscious, his voice a low rasp.
"They took her north… across the river. There's an old mining base there—Sigma Station. Carvalhos ran experiments out there during the oil wars."
"Which means it's wired for surveillance," Nora muttered.
Damien turned toward her. "We can't storm in like last time. They're expecting us."
Nora nodded. "So we don't attack. We infiltrate."
---
Meanwhile – Sigma Station, Interior Holding Wing
Leona sat in the freezing metal chair, wrists cuffed to the cold steel table. Her head pounded. A single flickering bulb cast eerie shadows on the rusted walls.
Across from her sat a man in a navy suit, immaculately groomed, eyes like glacier ice. A silver raven pin gleamed on his lapel.
"Miss Sinclair," he said with quiet authority. "You've been lied to all your life. Your father wasn't a savior. He was a thief. A traitor."
Leona didn't speak.
He leaned closer. "He stole the Genesis prototype from our labs. You were merely an insurance policy. A genetic container for the failsafe—one embedded in your bloodline."
"You're insane," she whispered.
"Am I?" he tilted his head. "Then explain why your blood reacts to the neurocell code embedded in the device."
She froze.
"You've seen the journal," he continued. "But that was just Volume IV. Do you even know how many families your father betrayed while hiding the others? The Sinclairs were once the backbone of Tavaran science. Now… your name is a stain."
His voice turned colder. "Tell me where the others are. Or I will use methods that make pain feel like mercy."
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the station. The power flickered.
The man stood, frowning.
"Seems your protectors are near," he said. "Too predictable."
He reached into his coat, pulling out a syringe filled with black liquid.
Leona's breath hitched. "What is that?"
"The beginning," he whispered, plunging it into her neck.
Her screams echoed long after the lights went out.