Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 117: – The Bunker in the West

Chapter 117: – The Bunker in the West

Lucas leaned back into the seat, exhaling slowly, like his body had finally caught up with the decisions his mind had already made. He reached across the bench and pulled his coat over his lap—tucking the edge under one knee, motion efficient and casual.

Then, quietly, he reached out again.

His fingers brushed Ava’s hand first—accidental contact, light enough to be written off.

Except he didn’t move away.

Instead, his thumb swept across the back of her hand—once, twice, as if tracing the curve of a blueprint he couldn’t quite name. And then, without ceremony, he took both of her hands in his, turning them palm-up and cradling them like they were warm data and he was reading her system with his skin.

Ava blinked, halfway caught between curiosity and mild disbelief.

"What are you doing?"

Lucas didn’t answer right away. He just looked down at their hands.

Then—head tilted slightly—he lifted one of hers closer.

And inhaled.

Ava’s breath caught, shoulders tensing—just a flicker—but she didn’t pull away.

Lucas blinked like he’d just realized he’d done it.

He cleared his throat, voice a little too even. "You smell like electricity and oil."

Ava arched an eyebrow. "That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me."

"I didn’t mean it romantically."

"Even better."

Still, she didn’t take her hands back.

His were warmer now. Still rough in all the expected places—knuckles, fingertips—but holding her with a care that didn’t match the warlord math constantly running behind his eyes.

He spoke without looking at her. "I think this core likes you."

Ava snorted. "It hasn’t tried to kill me yet."

Lucas’s lips twitched, just barely. "You’ll be able to use it later. When we’re somewhere safer."

"I’ll need to reroute a few stabilizers. My system’s picking up side-band noise from your upgrade. Interference."

"Could be resonance."

"Could be bleed."

"Either way," he murmured, squeezing her hands gently, "it’s us now."

That stopped her.

Just for a beat.

Before she could say anything, Cassi’s voice cut in from the front seat, still dry but laced with actual tension.

"So... good news, bad news."

Lucas didn’t look up. "Bad first."

"Bad news is: the person holding the rest of the decrypted logs? She’s bunker-registered. Top-clearance. West Sector."

Ava sat up straighter. "West?"

Cassi nodded. "Military-grade installation. Heavily sealed. Not an easy in."

Lucas’s jaw twitched. "Name?"

Cassi tapped a few keys. "Kara Lin."

The moment the name hit the air, Lucas stilled.

Ava felt it in the way his grip tensed slightly.

"Kara Lin," he repeated slowly. "The scientist."

"You know her?" Cassi asked.

Lucas leaned back. His expression didn’t shift much—but Ava saw the calculation click behind his eyes.

"My father introduced me," he said. "Years ago."

That landed heavy.

Cassi turned around halfway in her seat. "Wait. That Kara? The one who vanished after the first Sync Stabilization Trials?"

Lucas nodded. "She’s supposed to be off-grid. Dead, maybe. But if she’s stationed in the western bunker now..."

He trailed off.

Ava studied him. "That’s the same bunker your father’s sleeping in."

Lucas’s mouth pressed into a thin line. "Yeah."

"You think it’s connected?"

"I don’t know," he said, but the look in his eyes said otherwise. "My father worked with Kara’s division pre-collapse. She was top-tier research clearance. If she’s resurfaced—and she’s holding the rest of the wild-core data—then this isn’t just coincidence."

"Or," Ava murmured, "someone woke her up when your dad went to sleep."

Lucas’s grip on her hands tightened, just for a second. Then released.

He stood up slightly, bracing one hand on the back of Cassi’s seat.

"Change of destination," he said quietly.

Cassi raised a brow. "You sure? That’s a heavy route."

Lucas nodded once. "I want to see what she’s guarding."

Ava didn’t move.

Then, slowly, she leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and looked up at him—expression unreadable, but her voice flat.

"We already got what we came for."

Lucas didn’t blink. "Not everything."

Ava’s eyes narrowed. "You have the data. You have the core. You even have a shiny new system function that could get you killed if you sneeze too hard. And now you want to walk into the exact place tied to your comatose father and a woman the government pretended was dead?"

Cassi nodded from the driver’s seat. "For once, I’m with the gremlin. Feels like pushing our luck just to scratch an itch."

Lucas didn’t argue.

He just held up one finger.

"One—she has the full logs. Not the partials we pulled. If we want a chance at understanding what that core actually is, we need her versions. Uncompressed. Untampered."

Second finger.

"Two—she’s alive, but hidden. That means someone in power is protecting her. If we want to know who’s pulling strings, she’s the next knot."

Third.

"Three—she was connected to my father. She vanished when he went into sleep-state. That timing isn’t random."

Fourth finger, the final point.

"And four—if we don’t go now, someone else will. You think we’re the only ones chasing this? The black market is already shifting. Sync theft is accelerating. Whoever gets to Kara Lin first doesn’t just win—they decide the rules of the next phase."

Silence followed.

Ava stared at him for a long moment.

Then sighed, long and low.

"You’re really good at this whole ’make me agree with terrible ideas’ thing."

Lucas gave her the faintest smile. "It’s a talent."

She stood, brushing her palms on her thighs.

"Fine," she grumbled. "You’re the boss."

Lucas’s eyes flicked toward her, amused. "Say that again."

She glared. "Don’t get excited. You’re just the one who’ll be blamed when this goes sideways."

Cassi snorted. "So... normal Tuesday?"

Then, without missing a beat, she added, "Also, small update on your least favorite charming idiot—Locke."

Ava groaned. "What now?"

"He’s got a new sponsor," Cassi said. "Real hush deal. Private transport. VIP tier. Guess who."

Lucas didn’t even blink. "Erika."

Cassi glanced back in the mirror. "Did you already know?"

Lucas smirked. "No. Just fits. She always liked her projects dramatic and expensive. Locke’s exactly her type—strong, marketable, and dumb enough to think attention is affection."

Ava rolled her eyes. "He’s not that bad."

Lucas turned, one eyebrow raised. "He tried to trade smuggled black-core fragments."

"That was a fad."

"He gave you a ring."

Ava opened her mouth.

Paused.

Then looked down, just briefly, at her right hand.

Sure enough, the ring was still there—sleek matte silver, black inlay cut with a faint sync-reactive pulse use for angle system. Ava didn’t know what to do with it so it now lived permanently on her middle finger.

Lucas was already staring at it.

"Right hand, middle finger," he noted. "That’s where subtle rejection lives."

Ava folded her arms. "It’s useful. The material’s rare."

"So is taste," Lucas murmured.

Cassi choked on a laugh from the front seat.

Ava glared at both of them. "It’s not like I wear it because of him."

Lucas shrugged. "Didn’t say you did."

"But you implied it."

"I imply a lot of things."

"You’re insufferable."

Lucas leaned back, smirk still visible. "And yet, here you are."

Ava muttered something in Mandarin that Lucas pretended not to understand.

But she didn’t take the ring off.

And he noticed that, too.