Chapter 396:
“Charge the paddles!” Aurora ordered. “200 Joules!”
“Clear!”
Thump.
Julian’s body jerked. The line on the monitor remained flat.
“Again!” Aurora commanded. “300 Joules! Clear!”
Thump.
Silence. Then… beep. Beep. Beep.
A sinus rhythm. Weak, but there.
Aurora collapsed back against the headboard, gasping for air. Sweat matted her hair to her forehead.
“Stabilize him,” she whispered. “Get him on a temporary pacemaker. Flush his system.”
Elias burst into the room, gun drawn. He took in the scene—the blood, the crash cart, Aurora shaking on the bed.
He holstered his weapon and walked over to her, pulling her into his arms.
“I got him,” she sobbed into his coat. “I got him.”
“I know,” Elias murmured, kissing the top of her head. “You did good.”
He looked at the infusion pump, still scrolling the taunting message.
“Get that machine to Cloud,” Elias ordered Marcus. “I want to know where that signal came from.”
The hospital room was transformed into a fortress. Elias had tripled the guard. Technical teams were sweeping the room for bugs and replacing all digital medical equipment with analog backups.
Aurora sat in the corner, wrapped in a blanket, watching Julian breathe. He was sedated, but alive.
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“He hacked the pump,” Aurora said, her voice hollow. “He didn’t even need to be in the building. He could have killed him from a beach in Bali.”
“Cloud traced the signal,” Elias said, handing her a cup of coffee. “It bounced through servers in Russia, China, and Brazil. But the origin point… was London.”
“London,” Aurora looked up. “Eleanor.”
“Or someone near her,” Elias said. “The Gardener is playing with us. He wanted us to know he can touch us anywhere.”
“He mentioned my father,” Aurora said. “On the call. He said, ‘Let’s talk about your father.'”
Elias’s expression darkened. “Psychological warfare. He’s trying to unbalance you.”
“It’s working,” Aurora admitted. She looked at the Phoenix brooch pinned to her sweater. “We need to end this. Now.”
“The DA is moving on the warrants,” Elias said. “But extradition takes time. Eleanor has lawyers. She can drag this out for years.”
“We don’t have years,” Aurora said. “Julian doesn’t have years. We need to destroy her now.”
“How?”
“We give the Gardener what he wants,” Aurora said, standing up. The blanket fell from her shoulders.
“Chaos?” Elias asked.
.
.
.