Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 74: Chapter 74
You are reading Beneath the Billionaire Mask, Chapter 74: Chapter 74. Read more chapters of Beneath the Billionaire Mask.
Safehouse Echo – Strategic Briefing Room – 11:12 AM
The lights buzzed overhead as Liana threw up the decrypted schematics of Project VIREX Phase II on the screen. No one spoke for a long time.
Adrian stood with his arms crossed, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked like he might crack a molar. Elena sat at the table, elbows on the surface, fingers steepled, her expression unreadable. Julia leaned against the far wall, eyeing the data like it was a bomb waiting to go off.
Because it was.
“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” Elena finally said.
Julia didn’t blink. “It’s worse.”
The schematic showed a network of buried servers beneath major cities—London, Tokyo, Abuja, São Paulo, New York—each labeled VIREX Node. Each pulsed red.
“It’s a consciousness net,” Julia continued. “VIREX wasn’t just cloning people. It was replicating decision trees. Testing variables. Building predictive behaviors—”
“—to manipulate people in real time,” Adrian finished. “This is psychological warfare.”
Liana swore under her breath. “They didn’t just build copies… they built a system that knows what we’ll do before we do it.”
Elena leaned forward. “And if they control the network, they don’t need soldiers. They just need access. Phones, bank accounts, AI tools, surveillance. Everything connected is now… theirs.”
“And we handed them the keys,” Julia added bitterly. “When we decrypted that last packet.”
Silence.
Then Adrian spoke. “We have to shut it down. All of it. The network, the clones, the failsafes.”
“That’s not all,” Elena said quietly. “There’s one more node.”
She pressed a button. A single file appeared on-screen. One word: OBSIDIAN.
Liana frowned. “What is that?”
Julia’s eyes widened. “No… That’s the failsafe. That’s the failsafe. If Obsidian goes live, the system won’t just predict us… it’ll overwrite us.”
Adrian turned to her slowly. “You mean it takes over?”
Julia nodded. “Not just behavior. It rewrites memory. Identity. Reality.”
“Like turning every person into a program,” Elena whispered.
Liana looked around. “Then we don’t have time. We find the Obsidian Node. And we kill it.”
Adrian’s eyes darkened. “Even if that means destroying the system with us inside it.”
Julia hesitated. “There’s more.”
She tapped one more key.
An image filled the screen: a surveillance shot.
The Elena clone… holding Obsidian’s key.
And standing beside her—Marcus Vale.
Adrian exhaled. “They’re daring us to come.”
“And we will,” Elena said.
“But we’re going to need more than guts this time,” Liana added. “We need ghosts.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed. “Then let’s call in the ones who owe us.”
Unknown Location – Underground Lab – 12:02 PM
The Elena clone stared at her reflection. She was painting her lips crimson.
“Obsidian is almost ready,” said Marcus.
She turned to him, voice calm, icy. “Then let’s light the match.”
He smiled thinly. “You always knew how to make an exit.”
She stepped forward and whispered, “This isn’t an exit.”
She touched the drive at her throat.
“It’s a reset.”
Safehouse Echo – Weapons Wing – 12:40 PM
Liana slammed a metal case onto the bench and snapped it open. Inside: encrypted comms, prototype scramblers, and a sleek matte-black railgun that hadn’t yet seen field use.
She looked up at Adrian and Elena as they entered.
“We can’t take down a network built to anticipate us using predictable moves,” she said. “So we change the rules.”
Adrian inspected the weapons silently. “EMP charges?”
“Field-grade. Just enough to buy you 90 seconds inside each node before the system reboots.”
Elena examined one of the drives. “What about Julia’s relay?”
“She’s rerouting it through abandoned satellites—Russian, Chinese, old DARPA junk. It won’t hold for long, but it’s the only way to mask your signal once we’re inside the perimeter.”
Adrian looked at Elena. “We go in together.”
“No,” Elena said, voice firm. “We split. You hit Node Six in London. I’ll take São Paulo.”
His jaw tightened. “They’ll expect us to divide.”
“They’ll expect you to protect me.”
A long beat passed. Then he said, “Liana’s going with you.”
Elena opened her mouth to protest.
“No debate,” Adrian cut in. “If either of us fails, the Obsidian Protocol activates. And if that happens…”
“Reality rewrites itself,” she finished.
Silence.
Julia’s voice came through the intercom suddenly, taut with urgency. “They’re on the move.”
Everyone turned to the wall monitor.
Live feed – Node Five, Lagos.
Marcus and the clone—Elena’s double—were already there. The clone looked calm, unreadable. Like Elena, but hollow.
Marcus stared directly into the camera.
And raised a single hand.
With one finger… he pointed.
At them.
“Elena…” Liana muttered. “He’s taunting you.”
“No,” Elena whispered, stepping closer to the screen. “He’s testing her.”
“Who?”
“My clone.”
Julia’s voice trembled. “He wants to see if she’ll choose him… or me.”
Adrian exhaled sharply. “They’re testing loyalty programming. The final variable.”
“And if she fails…” Liana asked.
Elena’s voice turned to steel. “Then I’ll be the one to shut her down.”
Node Five – Underground Control Room – 1:15 PM
The clone stood alone now. The lights flickered as the Obsidian drive initialized.
A whisper from the walls echoed:
“Subject CR-01. Authentication complete. Upload sequence commencing.”
She reached for the drive…
Her hand trembled.
And then…
She pulled back.
Marcus stepped forward, eyes narrowing. “What are you doing?”
She turned her head slowly. “You promised me I’d be her.”
“You are her,” he said, but his voice faltered.
“No,” she said, voice cold. “I’m something else.”
Without warning, she slammed her palm into the console—reversing the upload.
“Sequence disrupted. Manual override activated.”
Alarms blared.
Marcus lunged—but she was already running.
Lagos – Node Five Escape Tunnels – 1:22 PM
Her breath thundered in her ears. Concrete walls blurred past, the pulse of red emergency lights strobing against her skin. She was built for precision. For silence. For obedience.
But right now… she was running.
Not because Marcus told her to.
But because something inside her fractured.
The clone—Elena’s mirror—skidded into a junction, slammed her hand against a biometric panel, and ducked through the opening before it sealed shut behind her. For the first time in her programmed life, she made a choice without command.
And it terrified her.
From the shadows, an older man emerged.
Dr. Kasim, her original handler.
“You disobeyed him,” he said flatly.
She blinked, unsure whether it was a question or condemnation. “He lied.”
“He always does.”
“What happens now?”
He stepped closer. “You’ll need to decide… if you want to stop being someone’s weapon, or start being someone’s truth.”
She stared at him. “I was never meant to choose.”
“That’s why you must.”
São Paulo – Node Seven Perimeter – 4:47 PM
Rain hammered the rooftops as Elena crouched behind a stone railing, eyes fixed on the entrance. Liana’s voice buzzed in her comms.
“Security’s lighter than expected.”
“That’s what scares me,” Elena replied.
A pause.
“Are you thinking about her?” Liana asked.
Elena didn’t need to ask who she meant. “Yes.”
“She made a choice.”
“She hesitated first,” Elena said. “And that’s what I can’t forget.”
Suddenly, static shrieked in the comms.
Then a voice.
Her voice.
“If you’re hearing this, I’m not your enemy.”
Liana froze. “It’s her.”
“They gave me your face, your memories. But not your soul. That’s still yours.”
Elena’s pulse stuttered.
“I’m not asking you to trust me. I just want you to know… I didn’t upload the drive. And I won’t.”
Then silence.
Elena stared into the darkened street ahead.
“She’s gone rogue.”
Liana exhaled. “That makes two of you.”
London – Underground Tunnel, Node Six – 5:13 PM
Adrian moved like a phantom, disabling guards with precision. Every step closer to the node chamber churned his gut—because if Marcus wasn’t in Lagos or São Paulo… then he was here.
Waiting.
As Adrian rounded the final corridor, a voice echoed from behind.
“I warned you not to dig too deep.”
He turned.
Marcus stepped out of the shadows, rain-damp coat hanging like a shroud, and the Obsidian trigger in his hand.
“You always think you’re the smartest man in the room,” Marcus sneered. “But you forget—I built the room.”
Adrian didn’t flinch. “Then you should’ve made the walls bulletproof.”
He raised his weapon.
But Marcus just smiled—and pressed a button.
The world went white.
London – Underground Tunnel, Node Six – Seconds After Detonation
The explosion wasn’t fire and fury—it was silence.
A calculated pulse.
Electromagnetic. Precise.
Adrian slammed into the wall, his body convulsing as the signal scrambled the comm in his ear, frying tech embedded in his shoulder from old recon injuries. Sparks danced across the floor. Lights flickered—then died.
In the darkness, Marcus’s voice rang out.
“Did you really think I’d blow up a node containing a part of me?”
Adrian pushed off the wall, coughing through the smoke. “I think you’ve always been a coward hiding behind theatrics.”
Marcus chuckled. “Maybe. But the difference is—I know when the curtains fall, and the act begins.”
Suddenly, a red glow returned down the corridor.
Not fire.
Surveillance pods—crawling from the walls like insects, lenses trained directly on Adrian.
“I wanted them to see this,” Marcus said from the shadows. “I want the world to watch when its illusion of salvation burns.”
Adrian looked up.
“They’re watching now,” Marcus whispered. “Every agency. Every backer. Every puppet master who thought Project Obsidian was their secret weapon.”
“You exposed yourself.”
“No, Adrian.” Marcus stepped into view, lowering the trigger. “I exposed you.”
A second screen behind him lit up.
Live feed: Adrian Blackwood standing at the heart of Node Six.
Overlay: Suspect Identified – CRIMSON CODE RED
Adrian’s heart skipped.
They had framed him.
Marcus smiled like the devil. “Let the world believe you’ve been pulling the strings all along. Let’s see how your precious Elena deals with that truth.”
Bogotá – Safehouse Echo – 7:29 PM
Julia’s monitor erupted with alerts.
Liana stormed in, scanning the lines of code spilling across the screen.
“Encrypted broadcast,” Julia said. “Marcus piggybacked off the detonation. The whole world thinks Adrian’s a war criminal now.”
“Where’s Elena?”
“In the field.”
“And Adrian?”
A pause.
“Cut off.”
São Paulo – Rooftop Adjacent to Node Seven – Same Time
Elena stood in the rain, breath sharp, watching the screen on the side of the building flare to life.
Blackwood’s face.
Accusations.
Footage doctored to show him pulling triggers he never touched.
Her knees buckled slightly.
Behind her, the clone approached quietly.
“You see now,” the clone whispered. “The truth they wanted us to carry… it’s poisoned.”
Elena’s eyes didn’t leave the screen.
“They want me to believe he lied.”
The clone gently touched her shoulder.
“But he didn’t.”
Elena turned slowly, eyes fierce. “No. He’s still fighting—for all of us.”
The clone handed her a chip.
“What is this?”
“Everything Marcus didn’t want you to find. Node Zero. The origin.”
Elena stared at it, heart racing.
Then she looked up into the stormy sky and whispered—
“We end this at the beginning.”
The lights buzzed overhead as Liana threw up the decrypted schematics of Project VIREX Phase II on the screen. No one spoke for a long time.
Adrian stood with his arms crossed, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked like he might crack a molar. Elena sat at the table, elbows on the surface, fingers steepled, her expression unreadable. Julia leaned against the far wall, eyeing the data like it was a bomb waiting to go off.
Because it was.
“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” Elena finally said.
Julia didn’t blink. “It’s worse.”
The schematic showed a network of buried servers beneath major cities—London, Tokyo, Abuja, São Paulo, New York—each labeled VIREX Node. Each pulsed red.
“It’s a consciousness net,” Julia continued. “VIREX wasn’t just cloning people. It was replicating decision trees. Testing variables. Building predictive behaviors—”
“—to manipulate people in real time,” Adrian finished. “This is psychological warfare.”
Liana swore under her breath. “They didn’t just build copies… they built a system that knows what we’ll do before we do it.”
Elena leaned forward. “And if they control the network, they don’t need soldiers. They just need access. Phones, bank accounts, AI tools, surveillance. Everything connected is now… theirs.”
“And we handed them the keys,” Julia added bitterly. “When we decrypted that last packet.”
Silence.
Then Adrian spoke. “We have to shut it down. All of it. The network, the clones, the failsafes.”
“That’s not all,” Elena said quietly. “There’s one more node.”
She pressed a button. A single file appeared on-screen. One word: OBSIDIAN.
Liana frowned. “What is that?”
Julia’s eyes widened. “No… That’s the failsafe. That’s the failsafe. If Obsidian goes live, the system won’t just predict us… it’ll overwrite us.”
Adrian turned to her slowly. “You mean it takes over?”
Julia nodded. “Not just behavior. It rewrites memory. Identity. Reality.”
“Like turning every person into a program,” Elena whispered.
Liana looked around. “Then we don’t have time. We find the Obsidian Node. And we kill it.”
Adrian’s eyes darkened. “Even if that means destroying the system with us inside it.”
Julia hesitated. “There’s more.”
She tapped one more key.
An image filled the screen: a surveillance shot.
The Elena clone… holding Obsidian’s key.
And standing beside her—Marcus Vale.
Adrian exhaled. “They’re daring us to come.”
“And we will,” Elena said.
“But we’re going to need more than guts this time,” Liana added. “We need ghosts.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed. “Then let’s call in the ones who owe us.”
Unknown Location – Underground Lab – 12:02 PM
The Elena clone stared at her reflection. She was painting her lips crimson.
“Obsidian is almost ready,” said Marcus.
She turned to him, voice calm, icy. “Then let’s light the match.”
He smiled thinly. “You always knew how to make an exit.”
She stepped forward and whispered, “This isn’t an exit.”
She touched the drive at her throat.
“It’s a reset.”
Safehouse Echo – Weapons Wing – 12:40 PM
Liana slammed a metal case onto the bench and snapped it open. Inside: encrypted comms, prototype scramblers, and a sleek matte-black railgun that hadn’t yet seen field use.
She looked up at Adrian and Elena as they entered.
“We can’t take down a network built to anticipate us using predictable moves,” she said. “So we change the rules.”
Adrian inspected the weapons silently. “EMP charges?”
“Field-grade. Just enough to buy you 90 seconds inside each node before the system reboots.”
Elena examined one of the drives. “What about Julia’s relay?”
“She’s rerouting it through abandoned satellites—Russian, Chinese, old DARPA junk. It won’t hold for long, but it’s the only way to mask your signal once we’re inside the perimeter.”
Adrian looked at Elena. “We go in together.”
“No,” Elena said, voice firm. “We split. You hit Node Six in London. I’ll take São Paulo.”
His jaw tightened. “They’ll expect us to divide.”
“They’ll expect you to protect me.”
A long beat passed. Then he said, “Liana’s going with you.”
Elena opened her mouth to protest.
“No debate,” Adrian cut in. “If either of us fails, the Obsidian Protocol activates. And if that happens…”
“Reality rewrites itself,” she finished.
Silence.
Julia’s voice came through the intercom suddenly, taut with urgency. “They’re on the move.”
Everyone turned to the wall monitor.
Live feed – Node Five, Lagos.
Marcus and the clone—Elena’s double—were already there. The clone looked calm, unreadable. Like Elena, but hollow.
Marcus stared directly into the camera.
And raised a single hand.
With one finger… he pointed.
At them.
“Elena…” Liana muttered. “He’s taunting you.”
“No,” Elena whispered, stepping closer to the screen. “He’s testing her.”
“Who?”
“My clone.”
Julia’s voice trembled. “He wants to see if she’ll choose him… or me.”
Adrian exhaled sharply. “They’re testing loyalty programming. The final variable.”
“And if she fails…” Liana asked.
Elena’s voice turned to steel. “Then I’ll be the one to shut her down.”
Node Five – Underground Control Room – 1:15 PM
The clone stood alone now. The lights flickered as the Obsidian drive initialized.
A whisper from the walls echoed:
“Subject CR-01. Authentication complete. Upload sequence commencing.”
She reached for the drive…
Her hand trembled.
And then…
She pulled back.
Marcus stepped forward, eyes narrowing. “What are you doing?”
She turned her head slowly. “You promised me I’d be her.”
“You are her,” he said, but his voice faltered.
“No,” she said, voice cold. “I’m something else.”
Without warning, she slammed her palm into the console—reversing the upload.
“Sequence disrupted. Manual override activated.”
Alarms blared.
Marcus lunged—but she was already running.
Lagos – Node Five Escape Tunnels – 1:22 PM
Her breath thundered in her ears. Concrete walls blurred past, the pulse of red emergency lights strobing against her skin. She was built for precision. For silence. For obedience.
But right now… she was running.
Not because Marcus told her to.
But because something inside her fractured.
The clone—Elena’s mirror—skidded into a junction, slammed her hand against a biometric panel, and ducked through the opening before it sealed shut behind her. For the first time in her programmed life, she made a choice without command.
And it terrified her.
From the shadows, an older man emerged.
Dr. Kasim, her original handler.
“You disobeyed him,” he said flatly.
She blinked, unsure whether it was a question or condemnation. “He lied.”
“He always does.”
“What happens now?”
He stepped closer. “You’ll need to decide… if you want to stop being someone’s weapon, or start being someone’s truth.”
She stared at him. “I was never meant to choose.”
“That’s why you must.”
São Paulo – Node Seven Perimeter – 4:47 PM
Rain hammered the rooftops as Elena crouched behind a stone railing, eyes fixed on the entrance. Liana’s voice buzzed in her comms.
“Security’s lighter than expected.”
“That’s what scares me,” Elena replied.
A pause.
“Are you thinking about her?” Liana asked.
Elena didn’t need to ask who she meant. “Yes.”
“She made a choice.”
“She hesitated first,” Elena said. “And that’s what I can’t forget.”
Suddenly, static shrieked in the comms.
Then a voice.
Her voice.
“If you’re hearing this, I’m not your enemy.”
Liana froze. “It’s her.”
“They gave me your face, your memories. But not your soul. That’s still yours.”
Elena’s pulse stuttered.
“I’m not asking you to trust me. I just want you to know… I didn’t upload the drive. And I won’t.”
Then silence.
Elena stared into the darkened street ahead.
“She’s gone rogue.”
Liana exhaled. “That makes two of you.”
London – Underground Tunnel, Node Six – 5:13 PM
Adrian moved like a phantom, disabling guards with precision. Every step closer to the node chamber churned his gut—because if Marcus wasn’t in Lagos or São Paulo… then he was here.
Waiting.
As Adrian rounded the final corridor, a voice echoed from behind.
“I warned you not to dig too deep.”
He turned.
Marcus stepped out of the shadows, rain-damp coat hanging like a shroud, and the Obsidian trigger in his hand.
“You always think you’re the smartest man in the room,” Marcus sneered. “But you forget—I built the room.”
Adrian didn’t flinch. “Then you should’ve made the walls bulletproof.”
He raised his weapon.
But Marcus just smiled—and pressed a button.
The world went white.
London – Underground Tunnel, Node Six – Seconds After Detonation
The explosion wasn’t fire and fury—it was silence.
A calculated pulse.
Electromagnetic. Precise.
Adrian slammed into the wall, his body convulsing as the signal scrambled the comm in his ear, frying tech embedded in his shoulder from old recon injuries. Sparks danced across the floor. Lights flickered—then died.
In the darkness, Marcus’s voice rang out.
“Did you really think I’d blow up a node containing a part of me?”
Adrian pushed off the wall, coughing through the smoke. “I think you’ve always been a coward hiding behind theatrics.”
Marcus chuckled. “Maybe. But the difference is—I know when the curtains fall, and the act begins.”
Suddenly, a red glow returned down the corridor.
Not fire.
Surveillance pods—crawling from the walls like insects, lenses trained directly on Adrian.
“I wanted them to see this,” Marcus said from the shadows. “I want the world to watch when its illusion of salvation burns.”
Adrian looked up.
“They’re watching now,” Marcus whispered. “Every agency. Every backer. Every puppet master who thought Project Obsidian was their secret weapon.”
“You exposed yourself.”
“No, Adrian.” Marcus stepped into view, lowering the trigger. “I exposed you.”
A second screen behind him lit up.
Live feed: Adrian Blackwood standing at the heart of Node Six.
Overlay: Suspect Identified – CRIMSON CODE RED
Adrian’s heart skipped.
They had framed him.
Marcus smiled like the devil. “Let the world believe you’ve been pulling the strings all along. Let’s see how your precious Elena deals with that truth.”
Bogotá – Safehouse Echo – 7:29 PM
Julia’s monitor erupted with alerts.
Liana stormed in, scanning the lines of code spilling across the screen.
“Encrypted broadcast,” Julia said. “Marcus piggybacked off the detonation. The whole world thinks Adrian’s a war criminal now.”
“Where’s Elena?”
“In the field.”
“And Adrian?”
A pause.
“Cut off.”
São Paulo – Rooftop Adjacent to Node Seven – Same Time
Elena stood in the rain, breath sharp, watching the screen on the side of the building flare to life.
Blackwood’s face.
Accusations.
Footage doctored to show him pulling triggers he never touched.
Her knees buckled slightly.
Behind her, the clone approached quietly.
“You see now,” the clone whispered. “The truth they wanted us to carry… it’s poisoned.”
Elena’s eyes didn’t leave the screen.
“They want me to believe he lied.”
The clone gently touched her shoulder.
“But he didn’t.”
Elena turned slowly, eyes fierce. “No. He’s still fighting—for all of us.”
The clone handed her a chip.
“What is this?”
“Everything Marcus didn’t want you to find. Node Zero. The origin.”
Elena stared at it, heart racing.
Then she looked up into the stormy sky and whispered—
“We end this at the beginning.”
End of Beneath the Billionaire Mask Chapter 74. Continue reading Chapter 75 or return to Beneath the Billionaire Mask book page.