I held the phone close to my chest, shielding the light of the screen with my hand.

Seventy-five percent.

A flashlight beam cut through the darkness of the basement, sweeping across the concrete floor.

“I see her footprint in the dust,” a guard whispered.

“Spread out,” Voss commanded from the stairs.

“Check the corners. Shoot to disable if she moves.”

I checked the phone again.

Eighty-two percent.

The files were massive, containing decades of illegal human experimentation and forged military records.

They held the financial trails of the shadow program.

They contained the names of every senator, general, and contractor who had taken a bribe to keep the project hidden.

And they contained my own medical files, detailing how they had engineered my career from the day I was born.

“Natalie,” Voss said, his voice echoing in the enclosed space.

“There is no world where you walk out of here with that data.”

“Even if you send it, we can scrub the servers before anyone notices.”

“You underestimate Mara,” I said, my voice cutting through the damp air.

I heard a boot click against a loose stone near the shelving unit.