He had told me there was a counter-measure.

He had hidden it in the estate’s local server, a hardcoded command that would override any external linguistic trigger.

“The ice is thick now,” Caroline said, her voice cold and commanding. “Sleep, Natalie.”

My hands began to open.

The rifle started to slip from my fingers.

“Echo-Seven-Juliet,” I croaked out, my throat dry. “Override… alpha… nine.”

A loud, piercing alarm shrieked from the intercom speakers throughout the house.

The sudden, deafening noise shattered Caroline’s rhythm.

My eyes snapped open.

The darkness in my mind receded, replaced by a surge of pure, adrenaline-fueled anger.

I caught the rifle before it hit the floor.

I didn’t aim at Voss.

I fired a single round into the floorboards directly between my mother’s feet.

The blast was deafening in the enclosed room, wood splinters spraying up against her slacks.

Caroline gasped, taking a sharp step back, her perfect composure finally breaking.

The two guards immediately raised their weapons to fire.

“Wait!” Voss shouted, throwing his arm out to stop them. “We need her alive. The biometric locks on the secondary drive require her retinal scan.”