Contract Marriage with My Secret Partner in Crime-Chapter 169: Retriever

Back in the outskirts, Brent loaded the final crate into the vehicle. His phone buzzed once.

Unknown Sender: North Corridor access breached. Surveillance down. Estimated interception: 72 hours.

He frowned, then sent out a mass ping to the fallback team.

"Initiate relocation protocol. Burn the site. Scrub all logs."

He stared at the hospital one last time through the rearview mirror as he pulled out.

He knew it wouldn’t be the last time he saw it.

But the next time he did...

He wouldn’t be the one running.

---

The early hours of morning blurred into the hum of equipment and the shifting echoes in the hospital’s hollow corridors. Surveillance cameras—installed discreetly by Reynold and Jeric—watched from the shadows, capturing every passing second with silent scrutiny. Reynold crouched beside a utility closet near the once-abandoned supply room, eyes fixed on his tablet screen. The feed from the camera inside the repurposed lab showed nothing unusual—yet.

Jeric handed him a thermos. "Still nothing?"

Reynold shook his head, sipping the lukewarm coffee. "Whoever Brent’s working with... they’re ghosts. No slip-ups, no return visits. Just traces of activity like they’re teasing us."

"You think he knows?" Jeric asked. "That we’re watching?"

"I’d bet on it." Reynold’s gaze flickered to a frozen frame—one he had replayed dozens of times. A shadow, a figure passing by the lab door in the dead of night. Unclear. Intentional. "He’s luring us in."

"Then maybe it’s time we spring the trap."

Reynold looked at him. "Not yet. We need proof. Solid, irrefutable proof tying him to the stolen Helix data and the missing samples. Otherwise, it’s just another dead lead."

Jeric exhaled. "We’re not the only ones hunting this."

"I know."

—

At the same time, halfway across the city, Cassius stood by the panoramic windows of his private office. The skyline reflected in his dark eyes as Sophia approached with a folder in hand.

"You’ve been quiet," she noted.

Cassius accepted the folder but didn’t open it. "Reynold’s too close to something dangerous."

"Brent?"

Cassius nodded. "And whatever’s left of Elias’s trail. That hospital was part of the early trials. The serum wasn’t stabilized then. It took lives before it saved any."

Sophia’s expression tightened. "There were no survivors, right?"

Cassius finally turned from the window. "Only one. And he was never supposed to walk away."

She raised an eyebrow. "You mean Reynold."

He didn’t respond, instead opening the folder. Inside were surveillance images—grainy shots of Brent meeting with a figure they couldn’t yet identify. They stood in the shadows of an alley, exchanging a case. Cassius studied the timestamp. Just forty-eight hours ago.

Sophia tapped the photo. "Recognize the briefcase?"

"Yes," he murmured. "It belonged to Elias. Modified to hold prototype serums. If Brent has it, then the chain isn’t broken."

"And if Elias is alive?"

Cassius’s voice turned cold. "Then he needs to be found before Helix does."

—

Later that night, Zephany sat on the edge of her bed, phone clutched in hand. Her mind had been racing since the crash. The way Kendrick’s injuries healed. The way hers had too. And the way neither of them had spoken about it.

She sent Pia a message: You up?

Seconds later, Pia replied: Always. Spill.

Zephany hesitated. Then: Do you think it’s possible to fall for someone twice? Once as yourself, and once as a stranger?

Pia responded almost immediately: Only if you’re hiding something from them.

Zephany stared at the message for a long moment. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Then she simply typed: Yeah.

Across town, Kendrick sat by his laptop, reviewing encrypted files Cassius had left on a secure drive. It was all indirect—laced with references and dead ends—but he understood what Cassius was doing. Breadcrumbs. Guiding him to the truth slowly, preparing him.

But it wasn’t his health he was thinking about tonight. It was Zephany.

And the moment she’d looked at him—really looked at him—after the accident. As if she knew.

As if she’d seen that part of him he was supposed to keep hidden.

He picked up his phone.

No message.

He sighed, setting it down. Maybe tomorrow.

—

In a surveillance van a few blocks from the old hospital, Brent watched the monitors in silence. Beside him, a masked figure sorted vials into a new refrigeration unit.

"We have company," Brent murmured.

The figure didn’t flinch. "Then it’s time to move."

"Not yet." Brent leaned back. "Let them come. Let them find pieces. I want them curious. Confused. When the serum’s next stage is complete... they won’t be able to stop it."

The figure finally looked up. His eyes were familiar—eerily calm.

"Elias?" Brent asked, voice low.

"I told you not to call me that."

"Then what should I call you?"

The man smiled faintly. "Call me what they will after this ends: the last architect."

And in the silence of a repurposed hospital wing, a hidden camera blinked twice.

Someone new had just entered the building.

Brent didn’t sleep that night. He stood on the rooftop of an old warehouse a few blocks from the abandoned hospital, watching the city breathe beneath a haze of midnight fog. The faint hum of neon signs pulsed in the distance, but his eyes were locked on the crumbling structure where Reynold and Jeric had uncovered the hidden room. It had been too close. Far too close.

The portable lab had been a calculated risk. He needed access to the original serum strains, and the old hospital, despite its decay, had still held archives no one knew existed. At least, no one should have.

He lit a cigarette, the flame from the lighter flickering briefly against his stubbled face. The smoke curled upward, lost to the dark sky.

He had seen the surveillance feed—Reynold’s reaction, Jeric’s tension. The two weren’t just snooping anymore. They were closing in.

But they didn’t know everything. Not yet.

"Let them watch," Brent muttered under his breath. "They’re already too late."

---

Elsewhere, Cassius sat in his study, flipping through printed documents spread across his desk. Sophia stood across from him, arms folded, her eyes scanning the data silently.

"He’s still three steps ahead," she said finally.

Cassius didn’t look up. "Two now. They’ve located one of the auxiliary labs. Brent won’t let it go so easily, though. He’ll pivot."

She tapped a page. "The sample logs. These were recent. Dated last week. That means he’s still cultivating versions of the Helix serum."

"But not the flawed kind," Cassius replied. "This one... he’s adjusting the cellular integration process. If he succeeds, it won’t just regenerate tissue. It’ll rewrite it."

Sophia’s expression turned grim. "So we stop him. Before it stabilizes."

Cassius finally looked at her, his eyes unusually sharp. "No. We let him finish."

She blinked. "What?"

"If we move too soon, we destroy the only chance we have of reverse-engineering the clean version. He’s doing the work none of us could finish. If we let him complete it, we can seize it."

"You’re gambling," she said.

"I’m choosing the only path that saves more than it destroys."

---

Zephany walked slowly through the halls of the Public Diamond Hospital, her phone pressed tightly to her ear. Her conversation with Kaelion still rang in her head. He was worried, though he didn’t say it aloud. The city was beginning to sense the tremors beneath its feet.

Kendrick had told her earlier that morning he’d be late. No explanation. Just a soft kiss to her temple, a promise that he’d call her later.

But he hadn’t. Not yet.

And she couldn’t shake the unease clinging to her.

When she reached the stairwell, she paused. Her eyes traced the wall. The old mural had been scrubbed off months ago, replaced with sterile white paint. But she remembered the symbol—the mark that once tied this place to Helix. A sun split in two.

She ran her fingers along the cold surface.

"You’re still hiding something from me, Kendrick," she whispered.

---

Kendrick was far from the hospital now, deep inside the forest clearing behind the north sector. He knelt beside a manhole cover, one of the remaining entrances to Helix’s original underground tunnel system.

He tapped the communicator in his ear. "I’m in position."

A voice crackled back. Pia.

"You sure about this, Eclipse? It’s not exactly your birthday party down there."

"I’ll be fast. In and out."

"You always say that."

Kendrick smirked faintly, then lifted the cover and descended into darkness.

The tunnels hadn’t changed much. Cold. Quiet. The smell of rust and dampness still clung to every surface. He moved quickly, flashlight slicing through the dark. It was time to retrieve what Brent left behind.

---

Brent was already there.

Deeper inside the underground chamber, he moved quickly through the rows of sealed lockers, unlocking a panel with his fingerprint.

Inside was a canister. Metallic. Glowing faintly blue. He slid it into a reinforced case, locking it tight. His fingers hesitated over the edge for just a second.

He heard the soft footfall before he saw the figure.

"You’re late," Brent said without turning.