In the shadows of history lies a deadly secret. A team of four elite women-an Indian hacker and ballistics expert, an American weapons master, a Japanese melee fighter, and a Russian psychological warfare specialist-are brought together to stop a ca...
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The rotors of the helicopter cut through the cold, Highland air, the team in silence as they soared above the now-smoking ruins of the facility. It was over. At least, that's what Scarlett told herself. But the tight knot in her chest wouldn't loosen. She stared out the window, watching the barren landscape pass beneath them, her mind racing with everything they had uncovered. Churchill's plans. Aldridge's virus. The genocide. And now, the destruction they had barely escaped.
Anya sat across from her, arms folded, staring at the floor in deep thought. Aiko cleaned her blade, the rhythmic motions of her hands steady and methodical, while Mira, exhausted, slumped in her seat, still clutching her tablet.
"We stopped it," Mira muttered, her voice hoarse from the stress. "We stopped the virus."
Scarlett looked over at her, nodding, but her mind remained elsewhere. "Yeah... we stopped it," she said, but the hollow tone in her voice wasn't missed by the others.
"We did what we could," Anya said, her voice unusually soft. "But why does it feel like there's more?"
Scarlett leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment. "Because there is."
---
Back in London
Two days later, the team reconvened in a safe house on the outskirts of London, just outside the city's heavy surveillance zones. The place was a nondescript, grey townhouse in a quiet suburban neighborhood. From the outside, it looked like any other home, but inside, it was equipped with enough security and tech to make it feel like a fortress.
Scarlett paced in the living room, reviewing the files they had salvaged from the facility. Mira sat at a table, analyzing encrypted data she had pulled before the self-destruct sequence. Anya leaned against the wall, while Aiko perched quietly by the window, watching the street below with her usual silent vigilance.
"The virus is gone, but we're still missing something," Scarlett said, her brow furrowed. "The backup facility in the Highlands was just one part of the plan. Aldridge worked under Churchill's orders, and they were preparing something bigger. The virus we found was just the start."
"The shard," Mira interjected, her fingers tapping nervously on the keyboard. "Remember? We didn't even get to fully analyze its structure, and now it's destroyed. Whatever was inside it was meant to be activated later."
Scarlett paused. She hadn't forgotten about the shard. They had barely begun to understand its true nature before the facility's destruction. "What did Churchill want with it? What was Aldridge really working on?"
Anya spoke up, her voice low. "Churchill. The man's legacy is treated as one of triumph and victory. But what we uncovered proves otherwise. The Bengal famine, the genocides under his rule... Aldridge's virus was part of that same dark legacy. Churchill wasn't just trying to win the war. He was preparing for something far worse."
