filled more densely than the pages themselves.
Tiny notes, symbols, arrows, crossed-out words, more arrows again,as though thoughts were being written faster than the hand could hold them.
Somewhere the ink had bled, as if someone had run wet fingers across the paper. Somewhere the lines slanted sharply, as if written on the run.
Ethan ran his finger along one of the lines.
And felt something tighten inside him.
Not pain, and not even his own fear, but the memory of a person.
Flash raised his head, noticing how Ethan had frozen.
"Found something?"
Ethan swallowed. His throat was dry.
"Delivery routes… old entrances to the donor center…"
He shifted his gaze lower, to where Maria had drawn a small square and an arrow pointing down.
"And…" He paused.
"…an underground elevator. Staff only. For the lab."
Flash straightened sharply.
"Show me."
He stepped closer and leaned over the notebook. His face ended up almost touching Ethan's shoulder, his breathing steady and focused.
His eyes quickly scanned the page.
"Damn…"
He traced the mark with his finger.
"She actually went down there."
Gideon gave a hoarse chuckle from the mattress:
"So… we've got a chance to go in not through the main entrance."
Flash slowly nodded.
"We do."
"But if the elevator is still active, there'll be security down there."
Bruno lifted his head from the weapons.
"Then it won't be quiet."
Flash thought for a second. Then said calmly:
"It will."
"If we're smarter."
Ethan carefully closed the notebook.
As if afraid to erase the warmth of someone else's hands from the paper.
He raised his eyes and looked at each of them.
Long. Thoughtfully. As if memorizing them.
And said:
"We're not stopping."
No one interrupted.
"She died for the truth. We're going to carry it forward."
His voice was quiet.
But there wasn't a trace of doubt in it.
It sounded the way decisions sound when they can no longer be undone.
Bruno was the first to nod.
"I'm with you."
Gideon pushed himself up onto his elbow with effort.
"Me too."
Flash looked at Ethan for another second. As if checking.
Flash spread the map out on the metal table. The paper rustled, smoothing under his palm.
"Listen carefully."
He marked a point with a marker.
"Donor center. Up top, the club. Below that medical blocks. Even lower the laboratory."
His finger slowly moved downward.
"Container 47 is here. Most likely a cryo-storage or biolab."
"Security?" Bruno asked.
"Private, plus vampires and cameras."
"Great," Gideon muttered.
Flash continued:
"Plan is simple. We enter through the service tunnel. We go down Maria's elevator. We take the data. We take samples."
Ethan asked quietly:
"And if the container is alive, what if they've already created something?"
Flash looked at him.
"Then… we improvise."
Gideon asked softly:
"And after that?"
Ethan answered immediately.
"We hand everything over to Anna. The girl will bring down Corvin,it's in her interest."
Bruno frowned.
"You trust her?"
Ethan thought for a moment.
"No. But she's the only one who can bring this out into the open."
Flash nodded.
"Politics, press, and a public scandal. If she gets proof, the election collapses."
"Or they kill us first," Gideon said.
"Possible," Flash replied calmly.
The next few hours passed in work.
Without extra words.
Bruno sharpened blades. Metal whispered quietly against stone. He checked the silver coating, wiped the handles, loaded rounds.
Flash tuned suppressors. Checked detonators. Reprogrammed motion sensors, occasionally cursing under his breath.
Gideon sorted medications. Morphine. Antibiotics. Coagulants. His fingers moved carefully but confidently.
Ethan cleaned weapons.
His movements had changed.
Like those of a man who had already decided to see it through to the end.
Later, when the generator stuttered for a second and the light flickered, Flash said quietly:
"You've changed this week…"
Ethan didn't look up.
"Yes," Ethan said, eyes fixed on the floor.
"Regret it?" Flash asked, gazing somewhere to the side.
A small pause between them.
"No."
Flash nodded.
"Then you're definitely ready."
When everything was packed, they stood at the hangar gates.
That night was colder than usual. Strangely, not a single car passed, it was too quiet.
Ethan took out Maria's notebook.
He ran his finger over the cover. Then tucked it into an inside pocket.
"We're going for the truth," he said.
Flash checked his magazine.
"We're going for what's ours."
Bruno slung the sledgehammer over his shoulder.
"And for everyone they're holding in there."
Gideon smirked.
"Then let's do it."
When they stepped out into the night, cold air hit them in the face.
Ethan lifted his gaze to the dark sky.