THE LIE THAT WORE A RING - Chapter 49: Chapter 49
You are reading THE LIE THAT WORE A RING, Chapter 49: Chapter 49. Read more chapters of THE LIE THAT WORE A RING.
The air was biting cold as their private jet descended over Vienna, clouds casting silver shadows across the spires and aged rooftops below. From above, the city looked tranquil—elegant in its winter stillness. But beneath the cobbled streets and Gothic facades, the truth waited, layered in the ruins of old alliances and hidden servers.
Ava sat by the window, her breath fogging the glass as the runway came into view. She hadn’t slept the entire flight. Elise had spent hours briefing them, while Ethan pored over schematics of the decommissioned base, now believed to house Project Halcyon’s Archive.
Nicholas leaned over to her. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
She nodded. “We’ve followed ghosts for too long. Now we face one.”
They touched down just after noon. Claire, who had flown in separately under a different identity, met them in an unmarked SUV. She drove without speaking, her jaw tight, her eyes fixed ahead. They weren’t headed into Vienna proper—not yet. Instead, they veered south, toward a forested region outside the city where the old Cold War facility, listed now as an “art restoration storage site,” was located.
From the outside, it looked ordinary—concrete walls, a nondescript entrance, a fake security office with low visibility. But their thermal scans and intercepted access logs confirmed there was much more below ground. The building dipped six stories underground, housing over twenty chambers, each secured with biometric locks and rotating air seals.
“This is where Renn operates,” Claire confirmed. “Not every day. He moves often. But the servers live here—and if we’re right, so does the central Halcyon ledger.”
Nicholas adjusted his earpiece as they stepped into the surveillance van parked a hundred meters away. “We don’t have long. One of Renn’s subordinates is en route. We trigger any alarms, we lose our shot.”
Ava zipped her black jacket and looked to Elise. “We go in clean?”
Elise pulled out a silver tablet. “EMP micro-disruptors only. No damage. We ghost in, ghost out. If we find the ledger, we copy, not extract.”
Ethan exhaled. “Then let’s ghost.”
They moved as a unit, disguised as European contractors, each equipped with forged badges and earpieces translating their speech into German for internal monitors. The outer gate scanned them but didn’t flag anything. Elise had programmed a sixty-second override to keep their credentials valid during initial check-in.
Inside, the hallway smelled of polished steel and dry air. The lighting was dim, flickering with low voltage—the building wasn’t meant to look sophisticated. It was meant to be forgotten.
They passed the surface security checkpoint and descended via service elevator to Level 3. According to the map, Level 5 contained the archive vault, shielded by a biometric scanner requiring both retinal and thermal signatures.
“That’s where Kael’s codes get us in,” Ava whispered.
They reached the Level 5 access panel. Elise removed a contact lens from a small container and slid it into place over Ava’s left eye.
“Kael’s retinal pattern. Sourced from his old security ID footage,” she said.
Nicholas handed Ava a small thermal strip. “For the heat signature. Hold it against your palm.”
Ava stepped up to the scanner.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—click. The vault hissed open, revealing a large, cylindrical chamber surrounded by glowing servers. At the center stood a single obelisk-shaped unit—black, seamless, humming quietly. On it, the name “HALCYON-CORE” flashed in bold white letters.
“Is this it?” Ethan asked, awe creeping into his voice.
“No,” Elise said. “It’s more than that. This isn’t just a data storage system. It’s a command relay. Renn’s entire network depends on it.”
Ava approached the console and plugged in the encrypted drive Claire had prepared. Lines of code burst across the screen. A quiet chime indicated connection.
Then came a voice.
“Welcome, Mr. Renn.”
Everyone froze.
A second later, the screen flickered. A soft chuckle echoed through the speakers.
“Ah… not Renn,” the voice said. “But close.”
It was him.
Cyrus Renn.
Not live, not in person—but programmed. A failsafe. A warning.
“I knew the Carters would eventually find this place,” the voice continued. “Which is why I built it not as a bunker… but a gate.”
The floor beneath them vibrated slightly.
“Abort,” Elise said quickly. “He’s triggering a lockdown.”
“Copying everything now!” Ava shouted.
The drive glowed. Percentages climbed. 67%. 82%.
A countdown appeared on the wall:
Security Override Initiated – 120 seconds
“Move!” Nicholas shouted.
The team grabbed the drive just as it hit 100% and turned to run. The vault doors began to close behind them, slowly but unrelenting. Ethan slipped under with seconds to spare, scraping his shoulder as alarms began to scream through the lower levels.
They tore through the hallway, ignoring the flashing red lights and echoing sirens, out into the service elevator, up through the dim concrete layers, until they burst out into daylight again.
Back in the SUV, Claire peeled off before the last gate even shut.
“Did we get it?” she asked.
Ava held up the drive, her hands shaking.
“We got it.”
Behind them, the facility powered down completely. Doors sealed. Lights went dark.
But the truth was no longer buried.
Ava sat by the window, her breath fogging the glass as the runway came into view. She hadn’t slept the entire flight. Elise had spent hours briefing them, while Ethan pored over schematics of the decommissioned base, now believed to house Project Halcyon’s Archive.
Nicholas leaned over to her. “You sure you’re ready for this?”
She nodded. “We’ve followed ghosts for too long. Now we face one.”
They touched down just after noon. Claire, who had flown in separately under a different identity, met them in an unmarked SUV. She drove without speaking, her jaw tight, her eyes fixed ahead. They weren’t headed into Vienna proper—not yet. Instead, they veered south, toward a forested region outside the city where the old Cold War facility, listed now as an “art restoration storage site,” was located.
From the outside, it looked ordinary—concrete walls, a nondescript entrance, a fake security office with low visibility. But their thermal scans and intercepted access logs confirmed there was much more below ground. The building dipped six stories underground, housing over twenty chambers, each secured with biometric locks and rotating air seals.
“This is where Renn operates,” Claire confirmed. “Not every day. He moves often. But the servers live here—and if we’re right, so does the central Halcyon ledger.”
Nicholas adjusted his earpiece as they stepped into the surveillance van parked a hundred meters away. “We don’t have long. One of Renn’s subordinates is en route. We trigger any alarms, we lose our shot.”
Ava zipped her black jacket and looked to Elise. “We go in clean?”
Elise pulled out a silver tablet. “EMP micro-disruptors only. No damage. We ghost in, ghost out. If we find the ledger, we copy, not extract.”
Ethan exhaled. “Then let’s ghost.”
They moved as a unit, disguised as European contractors, each equipped with forged badges and earpieces translating their speech into German for internal monitors. The outer gate scanned them but didn’t flag anything. Elise had programmed a sixty-second override to keep their credentials valid during initial check-in.
Inside, the hallway smelled of polished steel and dry air. The lighting was dim, flickering with low voltage—the building wasn’t meant to look sophisticated. It was meant to be forgotten.
They passed the surface security checkpoint and descended via service elevator to Level 3. According to the map, Level 5 contained the archive vault, shielded by a biometric scanner requiring both retinal and thermal signatures.
“That’s where Kael’s codes get us in,” Ava whispered.
They reached the Level 5 access panel. Elise removed a contact lens from a small container and slid it into place over Ava’s left eye.
“Kael’s retinal pattern. Sourced from his old security ID footage,” she said.
Nicholas handed Ava a small thermal strip. “For the heat signature. Hold it against your palm.”
Ava stepped up to the scanner.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—click. The vault hissed open, revealing a large, cylindrical chamber surrounded by glowing servers. At the center stood a single obelisk-shaped unit—black, seamless, humming quietly. On it, the name “HALCYON-CORE” flashed in bold white letters.
“Is this it?” Ethan asked, awe creeping into his voice.
“No,” Elise said. “It’s more than that. This isn’t just a data storage system. It’s a command relay. Renn’s entire network depends on it.”
Ava approached the console and plugged in the encrypted drive Claire had prepared. Lines of code burst across the screen. A quiet chime indicated connection.
Then came a voice.
“Welcome, Mr. Renn.”
Everyone froze.
A second later, the screen flickered. A soft chuckle echoed through the speakers.
“Ah… not Renn,” the voice said. “But close.”
It was him.
Cyrus Renn.
Not live, not in person—but programmed. A failsafe. A warning.
“I knew the Carters would eventually find this place,” the voice continued. “Which is why I built it not as a bunker… but a gate.”
The floor beneath them vibrated slightly.
“Abort,” Elise said quickly. “He’s triggering a lockdown.”
“Copying everything now!” Ava shouted.
The drive glowed. Percentages climbed. 67%. 82%.
A countdown appeared on the wall:
Security Override Initiated – 120 seconds
“Move!” Nicholas shouted.
The team grabbed the drive just as it hit 100% and turned to run. The vault doors began to close behind them, slowly but unrelenting. Ethan slipped under with seconds to spare, scraping his shoulder as alarms began to scream through the lower levels.
They tore through the hallway, ignoring the flashing red lights and echoing sirens, out into the service elevator, up through the dim concrete layers, until they burst out into daylight again.
Back in the SUV, Claire peeled off before the last gate even shut.
“Did we get it?” she asked.
Ava held up the drive, her hands shaking.
“We got it.”
Behind them, the facility powered down completely. Doors sealed. Lights went dark.
But the truth was no longer buried.
End of THE LIE THAT WORE A RING Chapter 49. Continue reading Chapter 50 or return to THE LIE THAT WORE A RING book page.