She Was Just A Child (PART 2)

CHAPTER 42: SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

The cold didn't bother König.

It never had.

He stood at the perimeter of the base just before dawn, the wind sliding over his gear like a phantom. Behind him, the buildings were still-quiet in that eerie way only military facilities could be. Too clean. Too sterile.

It had been twelve hours since they realized Dian was gone.

Twelve hours of backtracking, of combing through corrupted footage and ghost data, of interrogating systems that refused to answer.

Twelve hours too long.

He was losing time. And every second she was gone, the possibility of losing her for good grew sharper.

He had seen this before. The silent way organizations like theirs moved. The way they didn't leave traces-only scars.

And now, they had her again.

Roze approached from behind, her presence careful, deliberate. "Still nothing from satellite sweep. No visual ping, no heat trails. It's like they disappeared."

"They didn't," König said. His voice was rougher than usual, like gravel beneath his tongue. "They're hiding in a hole we haven't dug up yet."

She crossed her arms. "You think this was a message?"

He shook his head. "No. A message would be loud. This was precision. They didn't want attention. They wanted her."

Roze was quiet for a moment. "You think she went willingly?"

He turned slowly, his gaze like ice.

"No."

---

Command Deck - Four Hours After Extraction

The screen replayed the footage again.

Dian walking through the corridor. Controlled. Sharp. She didn't hesitate. She didn't sneak. She moved like someone following orders.

Except there were no orders.

And there were no shadows following her.

König stared at the footage. Again. Again. Looking for anything. A twitch. A glance. A signal she'd been coerced. Nothing.

Then-camera cut. The system dropped four feeds in perfect sync. The vault door sealed from the inside.

And that was it.

Gone.

Roze stood off to the side, arms crossed, her mouth set in a grim line. "Four feeds, König. Four. All in sync. That's no amateur job. You need top-tier override access for that. Admin-level clearance. Even you don't have that level alone."

"Someone helped them."

She nodded. "Someone here."

König turned away from the screen, jaw clenched beneath his mask.

He didn't trust easily. That had always been true. But even within KorTac-among his closest team-there were ghosts. Agents buried too deep to track. People who knew how to vanish when it suited them.

And now one of them had opened the door.

Roze stepped up beside him, voice low. "She fought back."

König looked at her.

"We found blood at the site. Small traces, but it's hers. She went down hard. But she fought."

That single word hit harder than it should have.