Chapter 7 - The Queen Goes HuntingDamien Vale disappeared.
For the next nine days, no countdown arrived.
No bodies.
No threats.
Nothing.
That silence frightened Sophia more than the messages had.
She stood inside the Blackwood command center beneath the Obsidian Room, surrounded by screens displaying financial networks, surveillance feeds, shipping manifests, phone records, and encrypted fragments recovered from Evelyn’s drive.
The old Julian had built his empire around fear.
The new Sophia built hers around information.
“Again,” she said.
Victor sighed.
“We have reviewed every Ninth Circle shell company five times.”
“Then review them six.”
Julian entered carrying coffee.
“Your staff is considering mutiny.”
“Good. Fear improves concentration.”
He handed her a cup.
“Sleep also improves concentration.”
“I slept.”
“When?”
“Thursday.”
“It’s Monday.”
Sophia drank.
Julian leaned against the desk.
“You’re chasing ghosts.”
“My father was a ghost.”
“And look how well-adjusted his daughter turned out.”
She gave him a look.
Julian smiled.
It disappeared when Evelyn spoke from across the room.
“I found him.”
Sophia put the coffee down.
“Where?”
“Maybe not him. But money.”
Evelyn enlarged a financial map.
“Remember Saint Michael Relief Foundation?”
“Yes.”
“It received thirty-seven million through Vale shell companies.”
“We know.”
“But most of the money never stayed there.”
She highlighted transfers.
“It moved through dozens of charities, then into construction projects.”
Julian frowned.
“Construction?”
“Underground fiber networks. Private server facilities. Data centers.”
Sophia understood.
“The Ninth Circle isn’t hiding in a fortress.”
“No.”
Evelyn zoomed out.
Hundreds of locations appeared.
“It’s distributed.”
One node was larger than the others.
A data center in Virginia.
Cross walked closer.
“That location.”
“You know it?”
“It used to belong to an intelligence contractor.”
“Used to?”
“They went bankrupt.”
Sophia looked at Victor.
“Aircraft.”
Julian caught her arm.
“Wait.”
“We agreed to attack.”
“We agreed not to be stupid.”
“Difference?”
“Usually explosives.”
Sophia almost smiled.
Then the main screen changed.
Every monitor went black.
A raven appeared.
Damien’s voice filled the room.
“You’re getting warmer.”
Weapons came out.
Sophia remained still.
“Hello, Damien.”
“Hello, Six.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Then survive.”
The image changed.
Live feed.
A woman sat tied inside a vehicle.
Sophia did not recognize her.
Julian did.
His face emptied.
“No.”
Sophia looked at him.
“Who?”
Julian walked toward the screen.
“My mother.”
Sophia had never met Elena Blackwood.
Julian rarely spoke about her.
She lived in Italy under another name.
Far removed from his business.
“Damien.”
Julian’s voice changed into something Sophia had heard only once before.
Marcus had heard it before Julian destroyed everything rather than surrender.
“Touch her and I will erase your bloodline from history.”
Damien laughed.
“There he is. The king.”
Sophia watched Julian.
Attachment.
Prediction.
Damien was pulling him.
“Where is she?” Sophia asked.
“Virginia.”
Of course.
“Data center?”
“Come see.”
The transmission ended.
Julian grabbed his coat.
Sophia blocked him.
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“My mother is there.”
“That is exactly why you don’t go.”
His eyes flashed.
“Sophia.”
“He wants you angry.”
“She is my mother.”
“And he knows that.”
Julian stepped close enough that everyone else quietly looked away.
“If Silas were tied to that chair, would you stay here?”
Sophia had no answer.
That was the problem.
Julian saw it.
“Exactly.”
Sophia exhaled.
“Then we go smart.”
Four hours later, they approached the Virginia facility from three directions.
Victor commanded the exterior team.
Cross entered through an old maintenance tunnel.
Sophia and Julian approached through underground utility access.
The facility sat beneath an abandoned technology campus.
The front buildings were decoys.
The actual servers were fifty feet underground.
Sophia cut through a maintenance grate.
They entered a concrete corridor.
No guards.
Julian whispered, “I hate that.”
“Me too.”
They moved.
At the first junction, a camera turned toward them.
Sophia shot it.
Wrong.
Immediately alarms activated.
Steel doors began closing.
“Run!”
They sprinted.
A door slammed behind them.
Another ahead.
Sophia slid underneath seconds before it closed.
Julian dove after her.
His coat caught.
Sophia cut it free.
“Favorite coat.”
“Buy another.”
“You burned my money.”
“Still complaining?”
“Occasionally.”
They reached the central server hall.
Hundreds of black towers.
Blue lights.
Cold air.
And Elena Blackwood.
She sat in the middle of the room.
Untied.
Drinking tea.
Julian stopped.
“Mother?”
Elena looked up.
She was sixty-two, elegant, dark-haired, perfectly calm.
“Julian.”
He stared.
“You’re not restrained.”
“No.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Sophia’s gun slowly rose.
Elena looked at her.
“And you must be Sophia.”
Julian stepped between them.
“Sophia.”
“Move.”
“That’s my mother.”
“And she’s sitting inside Damien Vale’s secret data center drinking tea.”
Elena smiled.
“Smart girl.”
Julian turned.
“Mother?”
Elena placed the cup down.
“I hoped we would have longer before this conversation.”
Sophia’s stomach tightened.
“Who are you?”
Elena looked at her son.
“Your father did not work with Silas alone.”
Julian went pale.
“You?”
“Yes.”
Cross entered through a side door.
He saw Elena.
His weapon fell several inches.
“Number Five.”
Sophia looked sharply at him.
“What?”
Cross stared at Elena.
“Elena Blackwood was target Five.”
Elena shook her head.
“No, Gabriel.”
She stood.
“I was the first member of the Ninth Circle.”
Nobody moved.
Julian laughed once.
It contained no humor.
“No.”
“Before Lucien Vale took control, the Circle was different. Intelligence sharing. Rescue networks. Black operations against traffickers and warlords.”
“You founded it?”
“With three others.”
“Lucien corrupted it.”
“Yes.”
“And Father?”
“He helped me destroy it.”
Julian looked physically ill.
“My entire childhood was a lie.”
Elena softened.
“We wanted you away from this world.”
Julian glanced around the underground fortress.
“Excellent job.”
Sophia interrupted.
“Why are you here voluntarily?”
Elena looked toward the servers.
“Because Damien contacted me.”
“What did he want?”
“For me to take control again.”
Cross stared.
“He wants you to lead the Circle?”
“No.”
Elena looked at Sophia.
“He wants her.”
Silence.
Sophia lowered her gun slightly.
“Me?”
“You are Silas Vane’s daughter and Julian Blackwood’s partner. Intelligence and organized crime in one alliance.”
Elena stepped closer.
“To Damien, you’re perfect.”
“For what?”
“To inherit everything.”
Sophia laughed.
“I’m trying to destroy him.”
“That is why he wants you.”
A screen activated.
Damien appeared for the first time.
Early thirties.
Dark hair.
Calm face.
Not monstrous.
That made him worse.
“Hello, Sophia.”
She stared.
“Come downstairs.”
“Where?”
The floor beneath them unlocked.
An elevator opened.
Damien smiled from the monitor.
“Alone.”
Julian immediately said, “No.”
Damien’s smile widened.
“Predictable.”
Sophia looked at Julian.
Then she handed him her weapon.
His eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
“Becoming unpredictable.”
She walked into the elevator.
Julian caught her wrist.
“Sophia.”
She leaned close.
“Trust me.”
Then the doors closed.
The elevator descended.
Thirty feet.
Forty.
Fifty.
When it opened, Damien Vale stood alone in a white room.
No weapon visible.
A chessboard sat between two chairs.
“Welcome,” he said.
Sophia stepped out.
“You kidnapped people, burned a church, murdered Arthur, and threatened my father to invite me to play chess?”
“I never threatened Silas.”
Sophia froze.
“What?”
Damien moved a black pawn.
“Your father came willingly.”
“Where is he?”
“Close.”
“You said he was target Eight.”
“No. I said the Architect built nine graves.”
Damien sat.
“Your father and I have been working together for eleven years.”
Sophia’s world tilted.
“No.”
Damien smiled.
“Sit down.”
She did not.
He slid a file across the table.
On top was a photograph.
Silas Vane.
Damien Vale.
Standing side by side.
Dated six months earlier.
Sophia stared.
“What is this?”
“The truth.”
May you like
Her father’s lies had returned.
And this time they were bigger than death.
