"I’ll be honest with you, Dr. Ivan. You’re too old now to form a core. It’s an organ that develops when soone first awakens. It’s the requirent to break past human limits."
"I see." The doctor sighed. It seed he had already half expected this.
"Alright, son. One last question. What does that moonstone do? Why do you want it so badly?"
Terrence took a few seconds to answer, weighing whether he should tell the truth or make sothing up.
In the end, he chose to be a bit more honest, since he wanted Dr. Ivan and Anna to work with him.
"That moonstone holds a special energy that’s more complex than the mana in the air. Normally, it’s toxic and can make soone very sick. But I have a way to stabilize it."
Dr. Ivan narrowed his eyes. He also knew about the side effects of direct contact with the stone. That was why he had sealed it inside vacuum-sealed glass in the first place.
"Son, I’ll give it to you. Even though your explanation of mana wasn’t very detailed, it still gave so ideas. But..." He paused.
"I want you to be honest with . Do you have soone backing you? A secret organization?"
Terrence leaned back.
"I won’t deny or confirm it. My background’s complicated, Doctor. But here’s what I can promise... your daughter an a lot to . "
Ivan stood up and let out a defeated sigh. Anna kept talking about Terrence, so it showed the feelings were mutual.
"Alright. I don’t know why, but ever since we first talked, my gut’s been telling to trust you. That feeling’s kept alive more tis than I can rember."
Slowly, he walked over to the moonstone, lifted the glass container off the table, and handed it to Terrence.
When they finished, they walked to another room in the lab. It looked more like a small eting room.
A projector turned on and showed recent information about the Barron’s activities and its current location.
The details were too sensitive to send by email, so they shared it this way instead.
"Dr. Ivan, do you not trust the governnt?" Terrence asked.
It seed the doctor was set on using private rcenaries to the very end.
"Son, I lived half of my life in Russia. I even ended up as a test subject. Then I ca to the US to work for the governnt, and they exploited too. Stole my research. That was enough to teach there are no bigger scamrs in this world than the ones running it."
It was obvious his life hadn’t been all sunshine before he reached this point.
But this worked in Terrence’s favor. He didn’t want to deal with the governnt either.
"Let’s start."
Terrence stood by the projector screen as Ivan tapped a small remote.
The first image ca into focus: a wide aerial view of a massive estate surrounded by tall fences topped with sensors.
"This is Barron’s main residence," Ivan pointed to the north side of the property where several black SUVs were parked.
"Barron only stayed here about half the week. Other days, he moved between his safe houses. But this estate is the most secure, so the diamond should be here."
The slide changed, showing a close-up of a helipad. A sleek dark helicopter rested there, blades folded.
"He uses this helicopter when he wants to avoid the roads. Flies to his private hangar near the coast. That hangar has underground storage full of weapons shipnts. Customs never check it—he pays too many people off."
Ivan clicked again. A floor plan of the mansion appeared. The rooms were labeled in neat text.
"This is the main wing," he said, tracing a finger along the blueprint.
"Barron spends most evenings in the study here. It’s reinforced with composite walls—standard bullets won’t get through."
He paused and tapped a small square marked in red behind the bookshelf.
"There’s a private elevator hidden behind this panel. It goes straight down to his vault. The security on it is top notch.
Ivan glanced up to make sure Terrence was paying attention.
"To open it, you need three things," he went on.
"First, an eye scan. The sensor only responds to Barron’s retina pattern. Then, a fingerprint reader built into the panel. Last, a voice command. All three have to match. If anything fails, the elevator locks down, and a silent alarm goes straight to his private security detail."
He let out a slow breath.
"In other words, he’s the only person who can get in there. Even his closest guards don’t have access codes."
Terrence touched his chin. This was more complicated than he expected.
Although he was a soldier too, most of his missions had been nothing like this. He dealt with monsters, rescues, and search-and-destroy operations.
Breaking into a vault with this level of security was a different challenge.
"You already have a rcenary team, right? Can you give their details? I need to know if they’re up to the standard."
Dr. Ivan nodded.
"Yes. They’re ex–Black Wings rcenaries. Very secretive and professional. They don’t take a job unless they believe it will succeed."
"This is also why they haven’t tried to infiltrate the place. They’ve been getting everything ready and sorting out the plan."
Terrence raised an eyebrow. "So they’re ready now?"
"Yes. There’s already a plan in place. Of course, you’re not part of it yet, so you’ll need to et the group first and coordinate."
"It’ll be complicated. I’m sure they didn’t like it when you said you were adding a last-minute mber."
Ivan let out a short laugh. "They didn’t. But I’m sure that with your skills, you’ll convince them they’re better off having you on board."
Before Terrence could reply, the doctor handed him a USB.
"This has the latest information , and the address where you’ll be staying in Russia. The team is already there. Also..."
He picked up a big envelope. Inside were fake docunts, passports, IDs, an ATM card, and a new phone.
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