The Double Trap
The silence in the lab was pierced only by the rhythmic hum of the compromised containment unit below. Sterling Vance, rifle aimed, savored his last moment of control, having revealed the deadly double trap designed by Adrian's mother.
"Five seconds, Maya," Vance hissed, shifting his weight on his injured shoulder. "You must comply, or the EMP pulse will kill the entire Galapagos grid. Choose."
Maya's mind raced. If she grabbed the stabilizer, she'd be quickly dosed with the Scylla Agent, becoming Vance's puppet. If she triggered the EMP on her cuff, she'd protect her mind but risk unleashing a massive pulse that would destroy the extraction team, Garrick, Zara, and the power grid.
She looked at the copper coil stabilizer, recognizing the terrible irony. Elara King hadn't just made a cure; she'd weaponized her own invention against those who would misuse it. The stabilizer was not a solution; it was a deadly trap.
"You're lying," Maya shot back, trying to project confidence she didn't feel. "The compliance agent takes time to work. A small dose won't do anything immediately."
"It's a concentrated aerosol delivery system, you fool," Vance snapped. "It works on touch. Now touch it!"
As Vance took a slow step forward, Maya made her choice. She couldn't sacrifice her mind or the mission. She had to use the only weapon that could buy time without touching the stabilizer, a move so risky it felt almost suicidal.
She focused on the humming floor panel above the containment unit and then looked back at Vance.
"You need to maintain the power, Vance," Maya said, her voice trembling slightly but firm. "You don't know the failsafe code to stop the EMP. You need me to retrieve that stabilizer."
She didn't move her hands. She simply activated the AD engraving on the silver cuff with her thumb, holding it for a full three seconds.
### Electromagnetic Shock
When the EMP pulse was fully triggered, a blinding flash of blue-white light erupted from the cuff. A high-pitched screech filled the air, drowning out the generator's hum.
The effect was immediate and violent.
The old generator in the main lab sputtered, groaned, and died, plunging the station into darkness. The terminals shattered, and wires sparked and coiled back like snakes.
Vance screamed in pain as his rifle, now useless, was ripped from his grip by the sudden, intense magnetic field. The shockwave hit Maya like a physical blow, throwing her backward against a bank of defunct servers. Her ears rang, and a searing pain shot through her arm, the cuff hot against her skin.
She had disabled all local electrical gear, the security cameras, Vance's communications, and, crucially, any tasers or electronic weapons his remaining men carried.
But she had also shut down the subterranean containment unit's generator.
The deep silence that followed was terrifying. The low hum of the Scylla Unit was gone, replaced by a hollow thrum from the floor, the sound of the culture overheating and the pressure building toward a catastrophic release.
Vance lay on the floor, momentarily stunned and clutching his ears. Maya, fighting through the disorientation, grabbed the logbook and the cryo-vial containing the pure Scylla Agent sample. She didn't touch the stabilizer.
"The generator is dead!" Maya shouted, her voice echoing in the darkness. "The pulse is minutes away, Vance! You just doomed your own assets!"
The Extraction
As if on cue, a powerful roar broke the island air the sound of heavy rotor blades.
Adrian had expected the EMP risk. He had mobilized an emergency extraction team using a **modified military-grade helicopter, shielded against geomagnetic interference.
"Maya, this is Zara! We see you! Move to the roof! Now!"
Maya smashed the lab window with the butt of the rifle Vance had dropped and scrambled out onto the jungle roof. The helicopter, painted matte black, hovered above the station. A rope ladder dropped quickly.
Vance, recovering, charged toward the roof access, furious.
"She has the vial!" Vance yelled up at the helicopter. "She's an operative! Stop her!"
Maya climbed onto the ladder, the logbook strapped to her chest, the cryo-vial tucked into her jacket pocket. As the ladder pulled her upward, she looked down and saw Vance wrestling with a figure that had just appeared; it was Adrian.
Adrian had parachuted in with the extraction team, taking a huge risk. He was in full tactical gear, but his focus was not on Vance; it was on the floor access panel.
"Adrian, the containment is failing!" Maya yelled against the roar of the rotors. "The EMP is coming!"
Adrian looked up, determined, and nodded. He understood. His mission had shifted from retrieving files to preventing a massive ecological disaster.
He slammed a powerful electronic charge a King Industries proprietary failsafe onto the lockbox. The lockbox sparked, and Adrian wrenched it open, ignoring the inactive, poisoned stabilizer. He pulled out a complex device he had carried in—a custom-built frequency dampener.
Vance lunged at him, but Adrian shoved him aside. "It ends here, Sterling!"
Adrian plunged the dampener into the floor panel of the containment unit just before the helicopter swept Maya away.
The Truth and the Reckoning
Maya was pulled into the helicopter. Zara secured her, quickly wrapping her cuff in a cooling gel to draw out the heat from the EMP pulse.
"Adrian?" Maya gasped, looking down.
Below, the helicopter beam illuminated the dramatic scene. Adrian had successfully installed the dampener. The seismic thrumming stopped. Adrian looked up at the helicopter and gave a firm nod—the final confirmation that the Scylla pulse was neutralized.
Then, Vance's remaining men burst onto the roof, firing flares. Adrian, having completed his task, raced to the other side of the roof, making a terrifying controlled jump off and into the dense jungle, trusting the team would pick him up later.
As the helicopter lifted away, Maya opened the logbook, flipping through Elara King's final, frantic entries. She stopped at an entry dated three months before the discovery of the Scylla Agent. It detailed her mother's environmental advocacy, but one page contained a chilling line of notes that had been crossed out.
The notes detailed a large transfer of funds from the Aethel CEO's personal foundation to a shell corporation in the Cayman Islands. A corporation that had just made a series of substantial, discreet investments.
The corporation's name: K. I. Holdings, Ltd.
K.I. Holdings was a King Industries shell company, a shadow entity used by Adrian to consolidate hostile takeovers.
Adrian's mother wasn't just investigating Vance; she was investigating her own husband, Adrian's father, who had been a silent, founding partner in Aethel Tech, providing the initial capital for the "mining exploration."
The true architect of the Scylla Unit, the person who had funded the research and orchestrated the cover-up, wasn't Sterling Vance. It was the man Adrian had honored for two decades, the man who built the King empire: Adrian King Sr.
Maya stared at the cryo-vial containing the biological agent, then at the silver cuff on her wrist, a gift from the son who was unknowingly seeking revenge against his own father's legacy.
How will Maya confront Adrian with the devastating truth about his father, and what immediate, treacherous move will the newly exposed Adrian Sr. make to protect his legacy and stop the final acquisition?