Chapter 641:
“Silence!”
For the first time, the students looked at Gordon with fear, and at Aurora’s retreating back with something that looked a lot like respect.
Night fell over the camp like a shroud. The only light came from the sweep of the perimeter searchlights.
Aurora lay in her bunk, staring at the ceiling. Her muscles hummed with the phantom sensation of the mud, but she wasn’t tired. She was hungry. Military rations were calorie-dense but soul-crushing, and she had burned about three thousand calories in the pit.
She checked her watch. 02:00.
She rolled out of bed, silent as a ghost. Maddie was snoring softly. Aurora pulled on her black hoodie and slipped out the window.
She moved through the shadows, avoiding the cameras she had mapped out on day one. She looped the footage on the server using a script she’d uploaded earlier. She reached the blind spot behind the supply depot, near the old perimeter fence.
A dark shape detached itself from the trees.
It was Elias.
He wasn’t in the truck this time. He was on foot, having hiked up the back trail to avoid the guards. He held a thermal bag.
“You’re insane,” Aurora whispered, approaching him. “If they catch you, it’s trespassing on a federal reserve.”
“Let them try,” Elias murmured. He pulled her into a hug. He smelled of expensive soap and night air. He kissed her forehead. “I saw the video of the mud run. Cloud hacked the camp surveillance.”
“And?”
“And I wanted to kill the instructor,” Elias said matter-of-factly. “But then I saw you finish. You looked… magnificent. Terrifying, but magnificent.”
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He opened the bag. “Wagyu sliders. Truffle fries. And a protein shake. But that’s just the cover.”
He handed her a small, encrypted drive. “This is what you really need. We traced the funding for this camp. It goes through a shell company linked to the Red Ledger. Gordon isn’t just a hardass; he’s in debt to them. They own him.”
Aurora pocketed the drive. “Leverage. Perfect. I’ll use it.”
“There’s something else,” Elias said, his voice turning serious. “The Red Ledger investigation. Cloud found a ping. It’s coming from inside the camp’s administrative server. Someone here is accessing the archives remotely.”
“Here?” Aurora frowned. “Gordon?”
“Maybe. Or someone using his clearance.”
A twig snapped nearby.
Elias moved instantly, pushing Aurora into the deeper shadow and stepping in front of her.
A flash went off.
Aurora squinted. Twenty yards away, a figure was holding a phone. It was one of Brittany’s minions, a girl named Becca.
“Gotcha!” Becca squealed, turning and running back toward the barracks.
“Damn it,” Aurora hissed.
.
.
.