Chapter 175
As the echoes of the explosions settled and a tense quiet fell over the construction site, Alexander, Lily, and Ariana moved through the maze of half-built structures, the air thick with dust. Every step felt like a gamble—one wrong move and the whole place could come down on them. But they pushed forward, knowing that time was running out.
Lily kept a close watch on Ariana as they moved, her distrust evident in the tight grip on her weapon. Ariana, sensing the tension, kept her hands visible and moved cautiously. “If you’re planning to get us all out alive, I suggest you listen to me,” she said, keeping her voice low. “There’s an underground tunnel that leads to the back of the site. He doesn’t know that I know about it.”
Alexander shot her a skeptical look. “And why should we believe you? You could be leading us into another trap.”
Ariana stopped, turning to face him. Her eyes were wide with a desperate sincerity. “Because I want him gone as much as you do. And if you let this place bury me, you lose your only chance at stopping him.”
Lily narrowed her eyes, studying Ariana’s expression. After a tense moment, she gave a sharp nod. “We take the tunnel. But if you try anything—”
Ariana raised her hands again. “I get it. You don’t trust me. But we don’t have time for this. Follow me.”
***
Meanwhile, on the south side of the construction site, Maxwell was trying to dig through the rubble that separated him from Caleb. His hands were bloody, his breaths coming in short gasps. He had to reach Caleb, to figure out how deep the betrayal ran—and to find out if there was any chance of salvaging their fragile alliance.
Through a narrow gap in the debris, he saw Caleb’s shadowy figure struggling to disarm one of the explosives. Caleb’s voice, muffled by the concrete, called out, “Maxwell, I’m trying to stop it! I swear!”
Maxwell paused, pressing his ear to the gap. “You better hope you can. Because if any of us make it out of here, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
The tension between them hung like a thread, but the immediate danger took precedence. Maxwell resumed his efforts, trying to clear a path to Caleb. As he worked, he heard the familiar click of a disarmed device, and a sliver of hope sparked in his chest. Maybe they had a chance after all.
***
Back on the northern side, Alexander, Lily, and Ariana reached a rusty door hidden behind a collapsed section of scaffolding. Ariana pulled at the handle, revealing a dark passage that led underground. “This way,” she whispered, stepping inside first. Alexander and Lily exchanged a wary look before following her down into the darkness.
The tunnel was narrow and smelled of damp earth. Their footsteps echoed as they descended, the sound amplifying the tension between them. Ariana led the way, moving with a certainty that suggested she had used this route before. As they reached a fork in the path, she hesitated for the first time, glancing over her shoulder.
“It splits here. One path leads out, the other circles back under the main site. If we want to disable any more explosives, we take the left. If we just want to escape, we go right.”
Alexander weighed the options quickly. “We need to give Maxwell and Caleb more time. We go left.”
Lily nodded in agreement, though her eyes remained on Ariana. “And you’re coming with us. If this is a trick, you’ll be the first to know how it ends.”
Ariana gave a tight, humorless smile. “Believe me, I’ve got no illusions about that.”
***
Above ground, hidden among the trees on a nearby hill, The Architect watched the unfolding scene through a laptop connected to his network of hidden cameras. He zoomed in on Ariana’s face as she led Alexander and Lily through the tunnels. His smile faded, replaced by a look of cold disappointment.
“So, you’ve turned against me, Ariana,” he muttered under his breath, his fingers drumming on the keyboard. He switched to another camera feed, watching Caleb struggle with the explosives. “And you, Caleb. I expected better.”
He tapped a few keys, accessing a hidden file on his computer. A blueprint of the construction site appeared, detailing the underground passages and the remaining explosives. With a grim smile, he activated a timer that began counting down—fifteen minutes until the remaining charges would detonate, collapsing the tunnels completely.
But as he prepared to set his final trap in motion, his phone buzzed with an incoming message. It was from an unknown number, the text brief and ominous: *We know where you are.*
He froze, his gaze snapping to the window of his secluded hideout. A dark SUV parked in the distance caught his attention, its engine running silently. He felt a chill run down his spine as he realized that the game might not be as firmly in his control as he thought.
***
Back in the tunnel, Alexander, Lily, and Ariana came upon a cache of explosives hidden behind a false wall. Ariana immediately crouched down, examining the devices with quick, precise movements. “These are connected to a remote trigger. He must be nearby—if we disable these, we’ll have a chance to flush him out.”
Lily nodded, keeping watch while Alexander knelt beside Ariana. “Can you do it?” he asked.
Ariana glanced at him, a flicker of emotion crossing her face. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” She began working on the wires, her hands moving swiftly. As she did, she whispered, just loud enough for Alexander to hear, “If we make it out of here, I’ll tell you everything. About the leverage he has on Caleb, about the plan... even about what he’s holding over me.”
Alexander nodded, keeping his focus on the dark tunnel around them. “First, let’s survive this.”
Above them, the site continued to groan and creak as the structure weakened. But with Ariana’s help, they managed to disarm the last of the explosives. As the timer on The Architect’s device ran down to its final seconds, the charges remained silent.
The Architect’s eyes widened in disbelief as he watched his plans unravel. And in that moment, the door behind him burst open, revealing a squad of tactical agents. The Architect reached for his gun, but it was too late—he was taken down in seconds, a look of fury on his face as he was restrained.
Back at the construction site, Ariana finally deactivated the last of the devices. She looked up at Alexander and Lily, letting out a long breath. “It’s over. For now.”
Lily, still skeptical, glanced between Ariana and Alexander. “Is it? Or is this just the beginning of another nightmare?”
Ariana’s face hardened, and she met Lily’s gaze. “That depends on what you do next. I’m not the one you should be worried about anymore.”
But even as the words left her mouth, the three of them couldn’t shake the feeling that a new threat was looming, one even more dangerous than The Architect. And as they emerged from the tunnel, the dawn breaking over the ruined site, they realized that the game had only just shifted into a new, unpredictable phase.
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