When your enemy challenges you openly… you either understand him, or you die.
The operations table was covered in photographs.
Building schematics.
Secondary road maps.
Suspicious vehicle movements.
Close-up captures of Marcus Heller's men.
Ian Vale and Derya Aksoy stood across from each other, weighing possibilities.
"If we hit Emmy's holding site first…" Derya said.
"They move Jack immediately," Ian replied.
"And if we prioritize Jack…"
"They leverage her."
Time was tightening.
Then
A red alert flashed across one of the monitors.
Both froze.
That signal appeared only when a specific face was detected.
Marcus Heller.
He appeared on screen...clear.
Standing in front of one of the covert cameras Ian had planted inside a corporate facility.
He didn't hide.
Didn't disable the camera.
He stepped closer.
Looked directly into the lens.
As if looking into Ian's eyes.
Derya said slowly,
"He found it."
But Heller didn't break the camera.
Instead, he pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket.
Held it up to the lens.
A mathematical equation.
Symbols.
Numbers.
Intersecting lines.
At the bottom, a sentence:
"If you are your father's son… you'll know what to do."
Silence swallowed the room.
Ian stepped closer to the screen.
No anger.
No outburst.
Only focus.
"He's not sending coordinates."
"A test," Derya said.
Ian sifted through old documents on the table.
Then reached for the thin metal chain around his neck.
He pulled out an old flash drive.
Inserted it into the system.
A file opened:
E.R.C – Coordinates Logic
He entered the equation's numbers.
Longitude shifted.
Latitude recalculated.
Derya leaned closer.
"Is that a transformation key?"
"My father used dual-layer encoding for experimental sites."
He continued calculating.
Pulled an old handwritten note.
Compared the sequence.
Then stopped.
Looked at Derya.
"He wants me there."
"Where?"
His voice steady.
"Oregon."
She stiffened.
"The old lab."
She glanced at the clock.
"Nine p.m."
Her eyes met his.
"That's three hours."
Silence.
"We can't secure the area in that time," she said.
"We won't."
"Then what?"
"We go."
She stepped closer.
"It could be a trap."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Of course it's a trap."
"And you'll walk into it?"
He looked at Emmy's image on the screen.
"I won't let them die."
"You might."
"They don't want me dead."
"Then what?"
"What I carry."
She studied him.
"Will you give it to them?"
He held her gaze.
"I've prepared for this day."
He moved to a side cabinet.
Removed a small wooden box.
Placed it on the table.
Opened it.
Inside
Sealed glass vials.
Precision injectors.
A black flash drive labeled:
F7O7
And a dark wig.
He shaved his head in front of the mirror.
Hair falling silently to the floor.
Placed the wig on.
His appearance shifted subtly.
Derya asked,
"A contingency?"
"Several."
He arranged the vials methodically.
"F7O7 isn't what they think."
"What is it?"
"A concept."
She narrowed her eyes.
"You're deceiving them."
"Always."
They leaned over the map together.
Ian drew a line.
"If I'm not out in forty minutes "
"What do I do?"
He looked at her.
"Everything."
No smile.
She understood.
Minutes later, he exited the facility.
Got into the car.
The road to the private airstrip was short.
But he wasn't alone this time.
Within minutes of departure
One vehicle followed.
Then another.
Then a third.
Kemal Arslan's network moved silently.
Not to escort him
But to surround whatever was about to unfold.
Night descended slowly.
And far away
At the edge of the Oregon forest
The old laboratory waited.
As if time had folded back to zero.
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