--: Author's POV: --
The relief of Jay-jay waking up lasted exactly sixty seconds.
It was shattered by a synchronized ping that echoed throughout the room. Every member of Section E reached for their pocket. Every phone screen lit up at the same time. It was a broadcast message from an unknown, encrypted source.
Edrix looked at his phone, his face turning a ghostly shade of blue. "He's not waiting. He's counting down."
On every screen was a live link to a private website. The header read: 'THE LITTLE KILLER'. Below it was a blurred still-image of a little girl holding a kitchen knife, and a digital clock ticking down from 60 minutes.
"He's going to broadcast the video to the entire school and the media in one hour," Rory hissed, his hands shaking as he gripped his phone. "He's not just breaking her. He's putting her on trial in front of the whole world."
The room exploded into a controlled chaos. The 'protective wall' of Section E shifted from a vigil into a strike team.
Keifer didn't look at the clock. His eyes remained locked on Jay-jay, who was staring at the screen in Aries' hand. She looked like she was drifting back into the trauma, her breath hitching as she realized her worst nightmare was about to become a public spectacle.
"Jay, look at me." Keifer grabbed her face gently, forcing her to look away from the countdown. "Ignore the clock. We are handling this. Do you hear me? We've got you."
"But... my mom," Jay-jay whispered, her voice trembling. "If this goes public... she'll go to jail for the cover-up. And the police... they'll come for me."
Aries stepped forward, his face a mask of cold fury. "Mom doesn't even know you're in the hospital yet. We kept her away so she wouldn't have to see you like this, but now..." He looked at Angelo. "If that clock hits zero, the police will be at Mom's door before we can even explain. We are the only ones who know, and we are the only ones who can stop it."
Angelo stepped into the center of the room, the usual warmth in his eyes replaced by a terrifying, frozen clarity. "Moving her isn't an option," he barked, his voice echoing with a command that made even the most restless boys go still. "The hospital is too exposed, and we're surrounded by eyes we can't trust. We aren't running." He looked toward the door, his jaw set in a hard line. "We're turning this entire wing into our base. If anyone tries to cross that perimeter, they don't leave. Edrix—find that server. I want a location, and I want it now!"
Edrix slammed his laptop onto the rolling tray, his fingers a blur of motion as he tore through the encryption. "It's a dead-man's switch, Angelo. If we try to force a remote deletion, the system will interpret it as an attack and trigger an immediate mass-upload. We can't kill it from here. We have to destroy the physical source—the server Kaizar is sitting on."
"Where is he?" Keifer growled, standing up. He looked like a man ready to tear the city apart with his bare hands.
Edrix squinted at the map, a look of disbelief crossing his face. "He's at the Sky-Reach Plaza. The new penthouse suite on the 88th floor. It's still under construction, so the security is private and the elevators are locked down. He's sitting at the highest point in the city, watching us."
The atmosphere changed. The boys of Section E didn't need to speak; they moved like a single machine.
"David, Percy, Mayo, Aries" Keifer barked out orders. "You stay here. Lock this floor down. No one—not even the doctors—gets in this room without my word. If anyone tries to force their way in, you show them why this is Section E's territory."
"Consider it done," David replied, his eyes darkening as he took his post by the door, pulling a heavy tactical baton from his belt.
Keifer turned back to Jay-jay. He leaned down, his voice dropping to a low, fierce whisper that only she could hear. "I'm going to end this. When I come back, that video will be gone, and Kaizar will never breathe your name again. Just hold on for sixty minutes."
He turned to the rest of the boys Angelo, Rory, Edrix, and the others.
"Let's go," Keifer said, his voice vibrating with a terrifying calm. "We have fifty-five minutes to reach the 88th floor."
The hallway went silent. Inside the room, Jay-jay sat in the hospital bed, the rhythmic tick, tick, tick of the digital clock on the phone beside her marking the seconds.
Outside, the city lights blurred as Section E's motorcycles roared to life in the hospital parking lot. They weren't just racing against time; they were racing to save a soul.