“My God,” he breathed. “You have Michael’s eyes.”
He brought them inside and locked the door.
On his screens were news feeds and security footage.
“Charlotte has filed a custody concern,” Webb said. “You are being described as children abducted by an elderly woman.”
Miss Maggie snorted.
“Elderly? The nerve.”
Webb’s humor faded quickly.
“We have to move. VastCorp has influence here too.”
They escaped the museum just as corporate security arrived and drove to Webb’s hidden facility near Rockport, a seaside cottage that looked ordinary from the road and became a high-tech sanctuary inside.
“This place was your father’s idea,” Webb said. “A sanctuary where truth could survive until the world was ready.”
They began decrypting the bracelet.
Each charm contained a microdot.
Each microdot held part of the Helios formula.
Emma refused to sleep.
She handed Webb tools, asked questions, watched code unfold across screens. She wanted to understand what her father had died—or disappeared—trying to protect.
By dawn, five charms were decrypted.
Then the security system chimed.
Proximity warning.
Emma expected Charlotte.
Instead, Daniel and Rebecca appeared on the camera feed, exhausted but alive.
Daniel embraced Emma.
“Your mother helped us escape,” he said. “Sarah is stable. Charlotte tried to use her as leverage, but she underestimated her.”
Relief nearly knocked Emma down.
Then Daniel turned to Webb.
“Charlotte is close behind us.”
They finished the final two charms under pressure.
Cube.
Sphere.
The complete Helios Protocol assembled on Webb’s main screen.
Rebecca whispered, “It’s beautiful.”
Webb ran the simulation.
“Ninety-nine point eight percent energy conversion efficiency. Minimal heat loss. Michael was right.”
Outside, vehicles approached fast.
Charlotte’s convoy.
Webb did not panic.
He began uploading the protocol.
Secure servers.
Research institutions.
Open-source platforms.
Media outlets.
All over the world.
Charlotte’s voice came from outside, amplified and cold.
“Hand over the bracelet and the data, and we can still resolve this peacefully.”
Inside, the upload bar moved slowly.
Seventy percent.
Eighty-two.
Ninety-one.
Emma held Lily close.
Daniel stood at the door.