Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 70: : The Ones Who Pull the Strings

Chapter 70: : The Ones Who Pull the Strings

Ava moved fast, her boots striking the pavement in even, measured steps. The sooner they put distance between themselves and Level One, the better.

Lucas followed without argument, but she could feel his gaze on her—assessing, amused, unreadable.

She ignored it. Tried to.

Her system was still running its calculations, processing variables she couldn’t see yet. Jessica was dead, Angel would know soon, and the moment she did—the hunt would begin.

Ava exhaled, voice low. "You have an extraction point?"

Lucas chuckled. "You wound me, Beauty. Of course I do."

Ava gave him a sharp look. "And you were going to tell me when?"

Lucas tilted his head, mock innocent. "You looked busy."

Ava rolled her eyes, but her system interrupted before she could fire back.

[ROUTE UPDATE: DETOUR REQUIRED.]

A blinking marker shifted on her mental map. Four streets down, cutting through an abandoned lot.

Lucas must have noticed her change in focus because he stepped closer, voice dropping. "Where are we going?"

Ava didn’t answer right away. Her system was still calculating, data shifting too fast for her to pin down the source of the new risk.

Something had changed.

And she didn’t like it.

"Rerouting," she muttered. "Something’s off."

Lucas sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Something’s always off."

Ava didn’t argue. She just moved.

Two blocks.

The air smelled different here—industrial metal, old fuel, the lingering scent of burned plastic. It wasn’t an active sector, but people still passed through.

Ava kept her head down, her system running background scans on every heat signature within a fifty-foot radius.

One block.

She spotted the lot. Chain-link fencing, rusted-out cars, a single warehouse with a broken roof.

Empty.

Or it should have been.

Her system flashed red.

[ERROR: UNKNOWN SIGNAL DETECTED.]

Lucas must have seen something in her posture shift because his voice turned sharp. "Ava?"

Ava stopped walking.

Her fingers twitched at her side, hovering near her concealed knife.

Something was wrong.

Lucas went still, too.

Not his usual, lazy stillness—but something more precise. Focused.

Ava exhaled, scanning the darkened lot. There were no visible threats. But that didn’t mean anything.

Her system pinged again.

[UNAUTHORIZED SURVEILLANCE DETECTED.]

Ava’s blood ran cold.

Not an ambush. Not yet. Whoever was watching them wasn’t moving. No sudden aggression. Just waiting.

Lucas exhaled, almost bored. "You want to tell me what’s got your shoulders so tense, Beauty?"

Ava ignored him, letting her system zoom in on the source. A signal, faint, bouncing between multiple dead zones before finally settling inside the warehouse.

The same warehouse her system had just marked as a detour.

Ava clenched her jaw. Someone was leading them here on purpose.

Lucas must have caught on because his amusement faded, replaced by something sharper. "Trap?"

Ava exhaled. "A message."

Lucas grinned. "I love messages."

Ava wasn’t so sure.

Her system flashed again.

[DIRECTIVE UPDATED.]

[CONTINUE TO WAREHOUSE. INTERACT.]

Ava frowned. "You’ve got to be kidding me."

Lucas lifted a brow. "That bad?"

Ava shot him a glare. "It’s telling me to go inside."

Lucas hummed, stepping forward like he was considering it. "Mysterious invitations in abandoned warehouses? Romantic. Let’s go."

Ava grabbed his arm. "We don’t walk into things blind."

Lucas smirked. "We don’t?"

She ignored him, tapping her fingers against her wrist, activating a silent scan. The results flickered across her vision—no heat signatures. No trip wires. No motion inside.

Empty.

Too empty.

Ava exhaled, finally releasing Lucas. "Fine. We see what they want."

Lucas grinned. "That’s the spirit."

They stepped inside.

The warehouse was quiet, a vast stretch of cracked concrete and rusted beams. A single chair sat in the center, a small metal case resting on top of it.

Lucas tilted his head. "Classic setup."

Ava moved first, scanning the case for traps. Nothing.

She flipped it open.

Inside was a single data chip.

Her system reacted instantly.

[DATA REQUEST PENDING...]

Ava barely touched it before the message flashed across her vision.

[HELLO, AVA.]

[TELL LUCAS HE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES EVERYTHING.]

Ava’s stomach dropped.

Lucas, reading her expression, chuckled. "Well, that’s fun."

Ava exhaled slowly.

They weren’t just being watched.

They were being studied.

Ava’s fingers hovered over the data chip, her mind racing.

[HELLO, AVA.]

[TELL LUCAS HE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES EVERYTHING.]

Her system pulsed, scanning the warehouse again, but the results were the same—no life signatures, no surveillance equipment actively running. Whoever left this message had already moved on.

Lucas stepped closer, peering over her shoulder. "Go on, Beauty. Tell me."

Ava didn’t answer. Instead, she turned the chip in her fingers. Small, metallic, unmarked. No insignias. No tracking tags.

But the words on her HUD weren’t random.

Someone knew who they were. Someone was making direct contact.

Lucas exhaled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You’re thinking too hard."

Ava shot him a look. "And you’re not thinking enough."

Lucas grinned. "That’s why we work so well together."

She ignored the bait, slipping the chip into a secured slot on her wristband. Her system pinged—safe to open, no malicious code detected.

The message expanded.

[THE NEXT MOVE IS YOURS.]

[BUT KNOW THIS: YOU’RE ALREADY PLAYING.]

Ava’s grip tightened.

Someone wasn’t warning them.

They were taunting them.

Lucas chuckled, golden eyes sharp. "I do love a good game."

Ava exhaled, staring at the message flashing before her eyes.

"Yeah," she muttered. "That’s what I’m afraid of."

Ava closed the message, her system storing the data for later decryption. She had too many questions, and not enough answers.

Lucas watched her, amused. "So, what’s it gonna be, Beauty? Do we play along?"

Ava rolled her shoulders, scanning the empty warehouse one last time. "We don’t have a choice. We’re already in the game."

Lucas grinned. "That’s the spirit."

Ava ignored him, tapping her wristband to analyze the chip’s encryption. It was high-level—military-grade. Whoever sent it wasn’t just some rogue freelancer. They had access.

Her system pinged.

[SOURCE ANALYSIS: 87% MATCH TO ANGEL’S NETWORK.]

Ava’s breath stilled.

Lucas leaned in, catching her expression. "Ah. So it’s someone close."

Ava exhaled sharply. "Too close."

Jessica was dead. Angel would be looking for her. And now this—a message from someone inside Angel’s own network, warning them that they weren’t the only ones watching.

Lucas was grinning.

Ava frowned. "You’re enjoying this."

Lucas chuckled, golden eyes gleaming. "A secret player on the board? A betrayal brewing right under Angel’s nose? Oh, Beauty, this is the best entertainment I’ve had in weeks."

Ava ignored his amusement, her mind moving ahead. Who had access to Angel’s systems? Who had the power to leave a message like this but not the authority to move openly?

The answer clicked into place too fast.

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