And only then did Ethan open the door.
Cold air slowly seeped into the car's interior, carrying the smell of asphalt, old rain, and something sweetly metallic, like the air near donor stations.
He stepped out.
The door closed almost soundlessly.
Thump…
Flash followed.
He didn't slam the door.
He never slammed doors.
His gaze immediately swept upward across rooftops, windows, signs.
His fingers brushed the headset for a second.
"Channel…" he whispered.
"Check."
At first there was only silence in the earpiece.
Then static.
And finally Gideon's breathing.
"…I hear you…" Gideon's voice sounded muffled, as though filtered through concrete and steel.
"Signal's unstable… but holding."
Ethan touched his own earpiece.
"You at base?"
"Yeah. Backup antenna. Had to jam the main one."
A pause.
"Someone was scanning the airwaves."
Bruno slowly turned, scanning the street.
It was almost empty.
A car passed far off in the distance.
Somewhere a building entrance door slammed.
An antenna trembled on a rooftop.
"Are we being tracked?" he asked quietly.
Gideon didn't answer immediately.
"I… I'm not sure. But right now you're like a beacon. Too many sensors around the club."
Flash exhaled through his nose.
"Great."
He looked toward the entrance, not directly, letting his eyes slide past as if he didn't care.
"Cameras?"
"Four out front. Two blind spots. But…"
He went quiet.
"But what?" Ethan asked instantly.
A click in the earpiece.
"Too much movement inside. Like they're waiting for someone."
Ethan's heart slammed harder.
"Us?"
"Possibly," Gideon said softly.
The silence grew thick.
Even the city seemed to hold its breath.
High above them, on the roof of the neighboring building, Anna stood motionless.
Only her fingers slowly turned the focus wheel on her monocular.
The thermal scope painted people as glowing blobs.
Three bright signatures at the entrance and dozens more inside the building near the doors, as though the guys were already expected.
She watched.
For a long time.
The way surgeons watch before the first cut.
"You're already too late…" she whispered almost soundlessly.
Below, Ethan took a step toward the entrance.
And at that exact moment—
A jerk.
Hard and sudden.
A shadow blocked the guys with its body.
A hand clamped onto the collar of Ethan's jacket and yanked him backward.
He didn't even have time to draw his knife.
He was shoved into the narrow gap between buildings.
His shoulder hit brick; he spun around.
Bruno was already beside him.
Flash too.
And in front of them, Anna.
She instantly pressed a finger to Ethan's lips.
"Quiet."
They froze.
The second stretched like rubber.
The guys still didn't understand what was happening while the woman shielded them with her body.
Then the club doors burst open.
Two figures emerged from inside.
Vampires.
They moved smoothly. Almost lazily.
One tilted his head and inhaled the air.
Ethan felt his heart start pounding.
Thud!
Thud-um!
He forced himself to slow his breathing.
"Clear," one of them said.
They went back inside.
The door closed.
Anna lowered her hand from the wall.
She exhaled slowly.
"You wouldn't have made it past the coat check."
Flash stared at her like he wanted to drill holes through her with his eyes.
"What the hell is going on?"
She didn't drag it out and even looked slightly embarrassed as she turned her head aside.
"The container is already with Corvin."
"…What?" Ethan said quietly.
"He took it just now. You didn't make it in time,he'd only just arrived here."
Bruno slammed his fist into the brick.
Skin split over his knuckles.
"We're too late!"
"No," she said calmly.
"You're alive, at least. And you're not too late."
Flash stepped closer.
"How do you know?"
She looked straight into his eyes.
"Because I've been watching you since the moment you left the base."
In the earpiece, Gideon sucked in a sharp breath.
"I didn't pick up her signal…"
Anna gave a faint smile.
"Of course you didn't."
Ethan stared at her heavily.
"You used us as bait?"
"No."
A pause.
"But I was prepared for you to be noticed."
Flash clenched his teeth.
"You're playing games with us. I don't like it."
His hand moved toward his pistol.
"I'm playing by your rules."
She pulled out a drive.
A small black USB stick.
"Copy of the data. Not everything. But enough."
In the earpiece, Gideon:
"If that's real, it's enough for a public strike."
"Exactly," Anna said.
Ethan quietly:
"Why not now?"
She looked at him for a long time.
"Because right now they'll vanish.
After the election, they'll be in plain sight."
She stepped closer.
"The container is in his private storage."
Something inside Ethan finally turned to ice.
"So… we go after him."
"Yes," Flash said without hesitation.
Gideon whispered:
"That's suicide."
Flash replied:
"It's the only chance."
Anna held out the drive.
Flash took it.
Their fingers brushed for a second.
"If you don't make it," she said, "I'll still release these files without you."
"You swear?" he asked.
She smirked.
"I'm a politician. Bureaucracy always comes first.
But it's in my interest to destroy my creator…"
She had already turned to leave.
Then stopped.
"Follow Corvin.
Not the container."
She looked at Ethan.
"He is the heart of the entire system."
She melted into the darkness after a few backward steps.
In the earpiece, Gideon quietly:
"You're walking into death."
Flash looked at Ethan.
Bruno nodded.
Ethan inhaled slowly.
And said:
"We need to take back everything that belongs to us."
Flash was still holding the USB stick between his fingers like it was a grenade with the pin pulled. He stared at it for a second, then shifted his gaze to Ethan.
"What do you think?" he asked quietly.
Ethan didn't answer right away.
He stood with his back against the wall, hands in his jacket pockets.
Under his fingertips he felt the corner of Maria's notebook, the one with her handwriting that he carried like a talisman and a reminder.