Contract Marriage with My Secret Partner in Crime-Chapter 171: The War

Sophia looked up at him. "Reynold and Jeric are setting up remote surveillance to monitor the hospital 24/7. They’ve got two motion-triggered drones stationed and wired mics in the vent system."

Cassius nodded, his expression unreadable. "And Brent?"

"Still quiet. But the files Pia’s team recovered from Ted Frin’s server showed signs of digital watermarking. Traces of Helix data embedded in unrelated documents—old trial videos, patient logs, genetic formulas."

Cassius turned toward the rest of the team filtering into the room: Kendrick, still stiff from the crash but alert; Zephany, arms folded, eyeing Cassius warily; Pia, uncharacteristically subdued.

When everyone had settled, Cassius moved to the front. "We’re reaching a tipping point. Brent is working toward something. He’s using remnants of the Helix project for a purpose we still don’t fully understand. But now we know he’s returned to the original sites—the places where Elias first tested the formula."

He tapped the photo of the old hospital.

"This wasn’t just a clinic. It was a pilot site. We found buried records. Experimental logs. Some of them with Elias’s signature. Others redacted or scrubbed. He was developing a variant serum. One that didn’t just regenerate—it rewrote."

Zephany leaned forward. "Rewrote what?"

Cassius looked her dead in the eye. "Behavior. Neural patterns. Maybe even memory."

Kendrick stiffened. "You’re saying it could change how people think?"

Cassius nodded. "Not just that. It could stabilize or destabilize mental faculties entirely. Imagine taking someone with a degenerative condition and restoring them. Or someone emotionally compromised—and making them... controllable."

Silence fell.

Then Pia spoke, her voice quieter than usual. "And that’s what Brent wants?"

Sophia answered, her tone sharp. "Brent’s version of control isn’t about help. He’s weaponizing it."

Cassius placed a new photo on the table. It was a blurred but recent image of Brent exiting a private jet. Behind him were two individuals—one unmistakably a military doctor. The other?

Sophia looked up. "That’s General Herrik. Black ops division."

Cassius’s voice grew lower. "He’s funding something off-record. We believe Brent offered him something experimental. A Helix variant that’s... fast-acting."

Zephany’s thoughts raced. That meant the serum could already be circulating.

Kendrick sat straighter. "How soon until we can intercept?"

Cassius didn’t answer immediately. He flipped to another map.

"We found movement near the old testing facility in Oriven province. A few of Elias’s old colleagues have disappeared. Others have gone into hiding. Surveillance caught traces of encrypted communication back to the facility. We believe Brent plans to reinitiate live testing. Possibly within the next 72 hours."

Pia let out a soft whistle. "And we don’t even know if Elias is alive."

Cassius held her gaze. "That’s the next priority."

---

Three hours later, the team split into two. Reynold and Jeric would continue monitoring the hospital. Pia and Zephany were tasked with tracking down one of the missing scientists who had recently surfaced in a quiet mountain town near Oriven.

Kendrick and Cassius were flying out to intercept General Herrik’s courier.

As they prepared to leave, Zephany caught Cassius in the corridor. "You’re still not telling us everything."

Cassius turned slowly. His usual humor was absent. "Because if I do, you’ll start asking questions I’m not ready to answer." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Zephany frowned. "We deserve to know what you and Elias were doing. All of it."

Cassius stepped closer. "You want the full story? Find Elias. Bring him back. Then ask him why he walked away before we finished. Why he let Brent take what we built and use it like this."

Zephany didn’t back down. "I will."

Cassius smiled faintly. "Good. Then we’ll all finally get our answers."

---

The town of Calvenor was nestled deep in the highlands, fog curling between pine trees like fingers. Zephany and Pia arrived just past dusk, their car slowing near a gated cabin where the scientist—Dr. Liane Oster—was last seen.

They moved quietly, using infrared goggles to check the perimeter.

Pia whispered, "I don’t like this. Too quiet."

Zephany tapped her ear mic. "Movement by the east side. One figure. Possibly armed."

They crept forward, circling toward the back of the cabin. A light flickered inside.

Suddenly, a rustle. Then a voice—tired and panicked.

"Please—don’t hurt me. I didn’t know. I didn’t know they would use it like this."

Zephany froze.

A woman stepped out, hands up. Pale, frail, eyes wide behind cracked glasses. Dr. Liane Oster.

"They took everything," she said. "The logs. The formula. They’re going to test it on children. You have to stop them."

Zephany’s blood ran cold.

Pia pulled Liane behind the car, checking for trackers. "Who’s testing it? Where?"

"An island. Off Oriven. Not on the maps. They’re calling it Site Echo."

Zephany looked to Pia. "We need that location. Now."

Liane pulled a shaking hand from her coat and handed over a USB. "Encrypted coordinates. Everything you need. But hurry. Once the trials begin, there’s no undoing it."

---

Meanwhile, Cassius and Kendrick intercepted the courier en route to the General’s private lab. It wasn’t without blood—two guards had to be disabled, and Kendrick took a bullet to the arm.

But the courier—barely twenty, frightened—had been carrying a black case. Inside were six vials of the new variant. Labeled Helix-R3X.

Cassius studied them. "This isn’t a prototype. It’s production-ready."

Kendrick grunted, wrapping his arm. "So it’s already been tested."

Cassius nodded. "We just don’t know how many survived."

He looked up toward the mountains, where the island supposedly lay beyond the fog.

"Let’s bring everyone in. Site Echo is our new destination."

The war for Helix had truly begun.

The rain hadn’t stopped since noon, drizzling softly over the city as darkness crept across the skyline. Inside the temporary observation room that Cassius had converted from an unused lecture hall, the air was thick with quiet tension. Monitors blinked with data feeds, charts scrolled across digital panels, and a soft rhythmic beep echoed from a nearby machine.

Sophia stood by the window, arms crossed, watching the rain streak the glass. She didn’t move even as Cassius entered, his coat damp from the weather. He shook out the moisture and tossed it over the back of a chair.

"Any changes?" he asked quietly.