The service tunnel exit led them into chaos.
Aarav burst out first, scanning instinctively—left, right, up. Police sirens echoed too close for comfort. Cipher Dawn operatives preferred confusion. Crowds. Noise. Authority turned into weapons.
"This way," Aarav said, grabbing Nisha's arm and pulling her into a narrow alley.
They ran.
Footsteps followed. Not many. Cipher Dawn never sent crowds when a few shadows would do.
Aarav glanced upward. Fire escapes zigzagged up the building like a metal spine.
"Climb," he ordered.
Nisha didn't argue.
They reached the rooftop just as a bullet shattered the railing beside Aarav's head. He rolled, drawing his blade, breath steady despite the burn in his shoulder.
Two figures emerged from the opposite building, jumping the gap with terrifying precision. Masks. Dark clothes. No hesitation.
"Professional assassins," Aarav muttered. "They're really spoiling me tonight."
He lunged.
The first attacker went down hard—Aarav's knee slamming into the man's chest, knocking the wind out of him before a precise strike to the throat ended the fight. The second was faster. Stronger.
Steel clashed. The rooftop echoed with the sound of metal and rain.
Nisha screamed as another shadow appeared behind her.
Aarav reacted instantly.
He hurled his blade.
It buried itself in the attacker's shoulder, spinning him backward. Aarav sprinted, tackling the man before he could recover, smashing his head against a ventilation unit until he stopped moving.
The second assassin disengaged, retreating toward the roof's edge.
"Running already?" Aarav called out. "You guys used to have better manners."
The assassin paused.
Then he spoke.
"You're not hunting us, Kane," the man said calmly. "You're walking exactly where we want you."
Then he jumped.
Aarav rushed to the edge—but there was no body below. Only darkness.
Rope line.
Vanished.
Soren's voice cut in, urgent. "Kane, multiple Bureau signals just went dark across the district. This wasn't a hit. It was a distraction."
Aarav clenched his jaw. "For what?"
A pause. Then quietly, "For her."
Nisha froze. "Me?"
Aarav grabbed her shoulders. "Listen to me carefully. Cipher Dawn doesn't kill witnesses immediately. They pressure them. Break them. Turn them."
Her eyes widened. "You think they want me alive?"
"I know they do."
A helicopter thumped overhead. Too unmarked to be police.
Aarav cursed. "We're out of time."
He dragged Nisha across the rooftop to the maintenance hatch and forced it open. They dropped inside just as the helicopter spotlight washed over the roof.
Dark stairwell. Echoing steps.
"Why are you helping me?" Nisha asked breathlessly as they descended.
Aarav didn't slow. "Because they killed my father's case. And because you didn't run alone."
They emerged into an abandoned office building. Broken windows. Dust. Old desks. Perfect temporary shelter.
Aarav barricaded the door and finally allowed himself to breathe.
Nisha sat across from him, trembling.
"Tell me the names," Aarav said gently. "Everything you memorized."
She hesitated. Then nodded.
She started listing them.
Politicians. Business leaders. Police officers.
Then—
"Two Bureau handlers," she said softly.
Aarav's blood went cold.
"Repeat that."
She did.
Aarav leaned back against the wall, staring at the ceiling.
Cipher Dawn wasn't infiltrating the system.
They were the system.
Soren's voice crackled again. "Kane… we just confirmed something. Your father's last recorded message was decrypted."
Aarav closed his eyes.
"What did he say?"
Static.
Then Soren spoke, voice strained.
"He said: If you're hearing this, they've already won. And my son is next."
Silence filled the room.
Nisha whispered, "I'm sorry."
Aarav opened his eyes. They were calm. Too calm.
"They haven't won," he said quietly. "They just made it personal."
Outside, the helicopter faded.
Cipher Dawn had let them go.
On purpose.
Because the hunt had officially begun.