Chapter 13: A Coded Message

The apartment was silent, save for the soft clicking of Julia’s keyboard as she worked to decipher the encrypted file her father had left behind. Lines of code scrolled across the screen, a labyrinth of information that seemed to mock her every effort.

Maria paced nervously behind her, occasionally glancing at Ikran, who sat cross-legged on the floor, cleaning his pistol.

“How much longer?” Maria asked, her voice tense.

Julia didn’t look up. “I don’t know. This encryption is... complex. My father must have wanted to make sure it stayed hidden.”

“Or out of the wrong hands,” Ikran added, his tone grim.

Julia’s fingers stilled for a moment as she thought of her father. He had always been meticulous, careful. This file was his last message to her, and she wasn’t going to fail him now.

“Got it,” she said suddenly, her voice breaking the tension in the room.

Maria and Ikran rushed to her side as the screen filled with documents, schematics, and a video file labeled “Dunnorage Protocol: Final Phase.”

Julia clicked on the video.

The screen flickered to life, revealing Dr. Adam Raufal seated in his office. He looked exhausted, his usually sharp demeanor softened by the weight of what he was about to say.

“Julia,” he began, his voice heavy. “If you’re watching this, it means I’m gone. I wish I could have explained everything to you in person, but there wasn’t time. Kentofes is more dangerous than you can imagine. They’ve taken something that was meant to unite us and turned it into a tool of oppression.”

He paused, running a hand through his hair.

“Dunnorage was supposed to be a bridge—a way to enhance understanding, to eliminate barriers. But Kentofes saw its potential for control. They’ve corrupted it, twisted it into something monstrous.”

Dr. Raufal leaned forward, his expression urgent.

“You need to know about Fendi—and Sarah. Fendi was my closest friend, a genius unlike any other. But his brilliance came at a cost. Sarah, his other self, tried to stop the project, to protect its integrity. But Kentofes exploited Fendi’s ambition and silenced Sarah’s voice. Now, they’re using his work to create a society without choice, without freedom.”

The video cut briefly to a schematic of Dunnorage—a sleek neural device with lines branching out like veins, connecting to a human brain.

“They plan to launch the device on a mass scale,” Dr. Raufal continued. “Pasadianka is just the beginning. If they succeed, no one will be safe from their influence. But there’s a way to stop them.”

He held up a small device—a key, sleek and metallic.

“This is the deactivation protocol,” he said. “It’s hidden in PRASASTI’s central lab. You’ll need to retrieve it to shut down Dunnorage for good.”

The screen froze on his face, and Julia stared at it for a moment, her chest tightening. Her father had known the risks, had given everything to protect this information.

Maria broke the silence. “So that’s it. We go to PRASASTI, find the protocol, and end this.”

“It’s not that simple,” Ikran said, his voice low. “If the protocol is in the central lab, it’ll be heavily guarded. Kentofes knows how valuable it is.”

Julia nodded, her mind already racing with possibilities. “Then we plan. We figure out how to get in, get the protocol, and get out before they know we’re there.”

Maria crossed her arms. “We can’t do this alone. We need help.”

Ikran stood, his expression unreadable. “I might know someone. But they’ll come at a cost.”

“Who?” Maria asked.

Ikran hesitated. “A former Kentofes operative. Someone who’s been off the grid for years. If anyone knows how to navigate PRASASTI’s security, it’s them.”

Julia looked between Maria and Ikran, her resolve hardening. “Then we find them. We can’t afford to fail.”

As the trio prepared to leave, the weight of the mission loomed over them. The deactivation protocol was their only hope of stopping Dunnorage—and saving Pasadianka from Kentofes’ grip.

But time was running out, and the shadows of the city seemed to grow darker with every step they took.