*******
Lunel was pretty beat up from being tied to a chair; the ropes had dug into her wrists, leaving marks, and she had been shoved into a cold, glass room that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie. Her hair was a ss, and she could feel a pain in her neck from where the guy had injected her. The room was empty, no caras or anything to use for communication, just guards watching her like she was so kind of experint. Even though she felt weak, her eyes were scanning the place for anything useful. Luckily, her hands had been freed.
A little while later, Selina walked into the room. She had a maid with her, and she motioned for her to put a tray of food on the floor. Leaning in close, Selina whispered in Lunel’s ear, "You’ll break, just like every other girl before you. We all do. You’ll only rember how righteous you used to think you were."
Lunel didn’t respond. Despite bleeding, she held her ground with defiant eyes. She briefly glanced at a corner of the room, where she had unscrewed a piece of tal from the bedfra. Even in this tough situation, Lunel wasn’t ready to give up.
Selina noticed the fire in her eyes and said, "Don’t even think about trying to escape. This place is packed with guards and weapons. If you try sothing stupid, you won’t like what happens next." With that, she walked out, her heels clicking on the floor.
Selina headed to the Alpha’s office next. He was chilling in his chair, smoking a cigarette, totally relaxed after capturing Lunel.
She went right up to him and sat on his lap, running her hands over his chest and shoulders. "Feeling good, babe?" she asked playfully.
"Why shouldn’t I be?" he replied, smiling back.
She laughed lightly and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, which he returned. "But what about HK?" she wondered.
"Karza is dealing with him," he answered, still enjoying his smoke.
After a brief mont of affection, he said, "Spread the news that Lunel is dead."
She frowned and asked, "Why do we need to do that?"
He got up from his lap, stood by the table, and crushed the cigarette in the ashtray. Without looking at her, he replied, "Just do what I say."
Without saying another word, she quickly left the room
An hour later, the news channel was broadcasting a single report.
"Hacker behind global leak is dead. Sources confirm: The Hacker Lunel is dead."
People were saying, "This is the end of the person who revealed the truth about illegal activities. Lunel was a good person; he chose the right path and exposed the truth," unaware that Lunel was not a man, but a woman.
Online forums reported that Lunel had been found and killed. "An anonymous source confirms: The hacker behind the global leak is dead. Alpha Dark’s empire will rise again."
Hazard King caught the headline as he passed through the lounge. It was the third day since Lunel had gone missing. He stopped walking for a mont, stared at the screen for three seconds, then continued on his way.
But deep inside his coat, he clutched a USB stick containing the original ssage she had sent him. Hidden within that ssage was a tracker, still active. A tiny red dot blinked sowhere, still beating, still waiting.
*******
She hadn’t said a word in four days. Not to the guards hanging out by her door, not to Selina when she dropped off als, and not even to herself. Instead, she’d been soaking up every detail around her, every screw, every sensor, and the timing of the patrols in the corridor. She had it all mapped out: six guards per shift, with two posted right outside her cell and four roving around the periter like clockwork.
Inside her cell, there were no caras, but outside, the place was crawling with thermal and motion-activated caras. Luckily, those feeds were all local and not connected to the cloud, and that beca her first secret weapon.
What they didn’t know was that hidden in the tray Selina brought in was a tal spoon with a magnetic base. She’d cleverly rigged a small charge from so wiring she’d stashed under her hoodie, allowing her to fry the internal cara relay just long enough to connect to her wrist comm. That thing had been embedded in her skin for years, and Alpha’s crew had completely missed it.
By Day 5, she’d managed to slip into the floor server loop, cautiously avoiding any red flags. Then on Day 6, she got crafty and set up a shadow user profile in Alpha’s internal system.
By Day 7, she was feeling bold and remotely opened three prison doors without alerting anyone, using that wire. She thought to herself, "These guards are really slacking; he should definitely hire so pros." The two guards in her room were so fixated on watching her that they didn’t even think about switching shifts with anyone else. Day guards didn’t mix with night guards, and that setup made it easy for her.
She couldn’t help but laugh at how clueless Alpha was. "He actually thinks I can’t get out of here?" After observing everything closely, she realized he genuinely believed he had her trapped. That thought made her smile; escaping was starting to feel more like a real possibility.
At night, she waited for the guards to start dozing off. Once she was sure they were out of it, she quietly got up from her spot, moving softly so she wouldn’t make a sound. When she reached the door, she worked on the lock with two sharp clicks: click, click. The door swung open, and she was free to go.
She sprinted down the hallway, zipping past the laboratories and the auction prep rooms. It hit her then, she was in his secret hideout. There weren’t any guards around, just a few who only worked during the day. Only six guards were on duty, with three minutes left before the shift change. She could almost taste freedom as she got to the loading dock.
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