Chapter 84: The Walls Close In
The room was silent for a brief moment as the figure in the doorway stepped forward. The sharp click of their boots on the floor echoed like a death knell, and Jake’s pulse quickened. His mind raced, every part of him screaming for a way out. They hadn’t planned for this. They couldn’t have.
“Adrian,” Jake whispered, his voice low and urgent. “Get out of here. Now.”
But Adrian didn’t move. His face was a mask of focus, eyes still glued to the screen as if he could somehow erase the situation with a single keystroke. It wasn’t working. There was no backdoor, no escape route—only the cold reality that Vanessa had played them at their own game.
The figure in the doorway stepped forward again, revealing a woman, tall and unyielding. She wore the same cold, calculating expression that Jake had come to associate with Vanessa’s inner circle. Dark hair, sharp features—everything about her screamed danger.
“I warned you,” the woman said, her voice laced with disdain. “Did you really think you could outsmart Vanessa? Did you really believe this was your victory?”
Jake’s breath hitched. The walls were closing in, the weight of the truth heavy on his shoulders. He wanted to say something, anything, but the words wouldn’t come. Adrian was still hunched over the laptop, oblivious to the threat standing just a few feet away.
“Adrian,” Jake urged, his voice rising with urgency now. “We need to go. Now.”
But Adrian didn’t react. His fingers trembled over the keys, the screen flickering with lines of encrypted code as he tried to break through.
“I almost feel sorry for you,” the woman continued, her eyes flicking to Adrian’s back. “You really don’t get it, do you? This was never going to be your win. You were always just pawns in her game.”
A flicker of recognition flashed across Jake’s mind. The woman wasn’t just anyone—she was a close associate of Vanessa’s, a shadow lurking in the periphery of their plan. Her name eluded him for a moment, but he knew that face. She was known for her ruthless efficiency and cold-blooded execution of Vanessa’s orders.
But before he could react, the woman stepped forward with a sudden, fluid motion. In the blink of an eye, she pulled a gun from her jacket, its barrel gleaming in the low light. Jake’s heart lurched. The gun was aimed squarely at Adrian, whose attention was still focused on the laptop.
"Adrian!" Jake shouted, his voice breaking through the tension.
Adrian's head snapped up, his eyes wide with shock and realization as he saw the gun. For a split second, their gazes locked, the unspoken understanding passing between them. This was it.
The woman smirked, the gun unwavering in her grasp. "If you think you're going to stop her, you’re more deluded than I thought. You’ve already lost."
Jake’s mind spun into overdrive. He couldn’t afford to let her pull the trigger. Not when they were so close. Not when they had come so far. He needed a way out, and fast. The pieces of their plan were crumbling around him, and he couldn’t let that be the end.
Adrian, eyes wide with terror, slowly raised his hands. “Wait—there’s still time. We can—"
"No," the woman interrupted sharply, taking a step forward, the gun still aimed at Adrian’s head. "You had your chance."
Jake’s heart pounded in his chest as his hand slowly moved toward his waistband, where the knife was hidden. It was a last-ditch effort, a reckless play, but if he could get close enough, if he could disarm her—
"Stop!" a voice barked, cutting through the tension like a razor.
Jake froze, the knife halfway drawn. For a brief moment, his world hung in the balance. The woman’s eyes flicked toward the voice—another figure, stepping into the room from the shadows.
Peter.
His presence was like a sudden jolt of electricity in the room, sparking both confusion and hope in Jake’s chest. Peter, though battered and bruised from their earlier encounter with Vanessa’s associates, still had the unmistakable aura of someone who wasn’t ready to back down.
“Put the gun down,” Peter said, his voice hoarse but commanding.
The woman hesitated, her eyes darting between Peter and Jake, calculating her next move. Her fingers tightened around the gun’s handle, but she made no move to fire. The room was thick with tension, and Jake could feel the weight of every second stretching out like an eternity.
“You’re too late,” the woman said, her lip curling into a sneer. “You think you can change anything now? It’s over.”
“Maybe not,” Peter replied. His eyes narrowed, a fierce glint of determination in them. “Because we have something you don’t.”
For a split second, Jake thought Peter might be bluffing. But then, Peter reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, black device. The woman’s eyes flickered with recognition.
“You… you have the data,” she whispered, her voice laced with disbelief. “You shouldn’t have that. Where did you get it?”
Peter’s lips curved into a smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you don’t get to decide this one. You’re out of options.”
The woman’s hand wavered slightly, the gun trembling in her grasp. Jake knew this was their chance. But before he could move, the woman raised her gun once more, this time aiming it at Peter.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she snarled, her eyes cold as steel.
Peter took a step forward, his voice low and controlled. “Then you’ll have to deal with the consequences of your mistakes.”
It was then that Jake realized—this wasn’t just about the data or their mission. It was about control. The woman thought she had power, but Peter was showing her, in that moment, that the game had shifted. They weren’t the ones trapped anymore.
Suddenly, the woman’s gaze flickered to Adrian, whose hands were still raised in surrender. Her finger tightened on the trigger.
And then, a deafening crash echoed through the room.
Jake barely had time to react before a dark figure darted from the corner, slamming into the woman with enough force to send her sprawling to the ground. The gun flew from her hand, skidding across the floor.
For a moment, everything was chaos.
But in the chaos, Jake saw a glimmer of hope. The game was far from over.
And they were still in it.