The warehouse was quiet again.
Leo stared at the flash drive on the steel table—"STARWOOD HOLLOW" etched across its surface. It pulsed faintly, like it was waiting. But something felt wrong.
WHISKERS (low) "Don't touch it."
LEO (whispering) "Why?"
WHISKERS "Because if it's real, it's dangerous. And if it's fake… it's worse."
JACE (nervous) "They just left it here. Like they wanted us to find it."
Leo stepped back, eyes narrowing.
LEO (thoughts) It's too easy. They wanted us to grab it.
From the comms, Agent Spector's voice crackled.
SPECTOR (over radio) "Status?"
WHISKERS "Drive located. No contact. But something's off."
SPECTOR "Hold position. Extraction team inbound."
Leo crouched beside the table, watching the drive. It looked identical to the one in the photo Professor Karo showed them—but it was too clean. Too… perfect.
JACE (quietly) "What if it's not the real one?"
WHISKERS "Then we're standing in a trap."
Suddenly, the scanner Ember gave them pinged—twice.
WHISKERS (eyes widening) "Two signals. One here. One moving."
LEO "They planted a decoy."
JACE "Classic villain move."
WHISKERS "Classic distraction. The real drive's on the move."
Leo stood, adrenaline kicking in.
LEO "We need to tell the agents."
WHISKERS "No time. If we wait, it's gone."
JACE "But we're just kids. We can't chase it."
WHISKERS "We're not chasing. We're tracking. Quietly."
Leo looked at the scanner. The second signal was faint, heading toward the edge of town.
LEO "There's a park near there. With old tunnels. My parents used to talk about it."
WHISKERS "Then that's where we go."
They slipped out of the warehouse, leaving the decoy behind. The streets were quiet, bathed in early morning haze. Every shadow felt like it was watching.
JACE (walking beside Leo) "You sure about this?"
LEO "No. But we're already in it."
WHISKERS "Stay low. Stay quiet. And if we see anything weird…"
JACE "We run?"
WHISKERS "We think. Then run."
They moved through the alleyways, the scanner pulsing softly in Leo's hand. The second signal was getting stronger.
And somewhere ahead, the real flash drive was slipping through the cracks.