?Chapter 1141:


    Wanting nothing more than to be rid of him, Elena marched over and yanked the door open. “Out. Now.”


    Earle took his sweet time walking over, but just before crossing the threshold, he leaned in close, his gaze unwavering. “Sooner orter, you’lle running for my help. You’ll see.”


    Elena answered by mming the door in his face with a satisfying bang. Maniac. She’d sooner strangle him than ask for a favor. Who did he think he was, expecting her to ever seek his help?


    After that pest Earle had been shown the door, Elena returned to her desk, powered on herputer, and started a deep dive into his past as Torin.


    The search results painted a daunting picture. His family, the Duncan family, sat at the top of Yoswye’s nobility, and Earle himself held the title of the Duke of ckwood. Ruthlessness was his trademark. Stories spread of how he’d wiped out rivals, even going so far as to eliminate his own father and brothers to secure his grip on power. With both the economy and the military under his thumb, he ruled Yoswye with an iron fist.


    The more Elena read, the stronger her suspicions grew that Earle had something to do with Wesley’s disappearance. If her gut was right, the only way to find Wesley would be to break into Yoswye’s heavily guarded military base. Midnight would be her window. That was when the guards grew careless and the shadows offered the best cover.


    Shadows hugged Elena as she crept toward the perimeter of the military base. A quick scan revealedyers of surveince and rows of infrared sensors dotting the grounds. She pulled out herptop, and her fingers moved in a blur across the keyboard. One by one, security feeds flickered off, and the tracking grids faded to ck.


    With the defenses down, Elena vaulted over the fence and slipped into the military base unseen.


    Memorizing thepound’syout had paid off. Elena navigated through a maze of corridors, making straight for the notorious prison where the most dangerous inmates were kept. Footsteps echoed in the halls, but she moved like a shadow, ducking patrols and reaching the electronic lock in moments. A few keystrokester, the heavy door clicked open. Inside, cells lined the walls, but Wesley was nowhere in sight. Doubt gnawed at her. Had she miscalcted? Perhaps Earle had never brought Wesley here at all.


    Suddenly, sirens shattered the quiet. Crimson lights shed as rms red overhead. No time remained to ponder her mistake. She mmed the cell door shut and darted back into the corridor. “Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”


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    “Immediate lockdown! No one is allowed to leave!”


    Steel gates nged shut and floodlights snapped on, transforming the base from stillness to chaos in an instant.


    A squadron of armed soldiers raced toward Elena’s hiding spot. Thinking fast, she opened a nearby door and slipped inside.


    The metal door thudded closed, echoing in the dimness. Painted above her in stark, block letters: “Ninth Prison.” The soldiers halted at the door.


    “Did you hear something just now?”


    “Nah, this ce holds the smartest psychopaths around. Nobody leaves the Ninth Prison. No point checking here.”


    With a shared shrug, they moved off, their boots fading down the hall. Alone again, Elena tugged at the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. Those soldiers’ words echoed in her mind. No one ever left this ce once they were inside. From the feel of it, the highest-grade electronic lock had just sealed her in.


    Elena flipped open herptop, determined to outsmart the digital lock. Unlike the others, this lock proved a different beast entirely. More than a hundred intricate firewalls guarded the system, eachyer more advanced than thest. She could feel her way through it, but it would take precious time. Any dy meant the soldiers outside might catch on to her presence here. She needed to break through within half an hour.


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