Chapter 1: Into the Abyss (5)
The escape plans began in earnest after that night. Sylvie had been working on it far longer than Elyse had realized—gathering codes, mapping routes, cultivating guards who could be bribed or manipulated. The scope and detail of her preparations left Elyse stunned. This wasn't a desperate impulse; it was an operation.
"There's a window," Sylvie told her during one of their clandestine meetings in the drainage tunnel. "A very small window. The security contractor rotates on Thursdays, and the new shift always arrives thirty minutes late. During that gap, there are exactly nine minutes where the eastern wall has overlapping blind spots in both camera coverage and patrol routes."
"Nine minutes," Elyse repeated.
"It's enough. If you don't hesitate."
The word "you" was deliberate. Elyse looked at Sylvie, who stared back with a strange intensity.
"I'll be staying," Sylvie said. "I have... other work to finish here."
Elyse wanted to argue, but she'd learned by now that arguing with Sylvie was like arguing with gravity. So instead she asked the question she'd been holding for weeks.
"Are you a cop?"
Sylvie's expression flickered—just for an instant—before settling back into its usual calm. "Something like that."
It wasn't a confirmation. But it wasn't a denial, either.
Over the next two weeks, Sylvie drilled Elyse on the escape route until she could run it blindfolded. They practiced cutting zip ties and breaking knots. They memorized the terrain beyond the compound's walls using satellite images Sylvie had somehow accessed on a burner phone. The closest town was Little Golden Port, a border settlement roughly forty kilometers away through forest and mountain terrain.
"Follow the river downstream," Sylvie instructed. "It'll take you toward the Chinese border. Don't go through Little Golden Port—they'll have eyes there. Cut through the hills. It's harder terrain, but safer."
"What about you?" Elyse asked.
"I told you. I'm staying."
"Why?"
Sylvie's jaw tightened. "Because there are people still inside this compound who need someone on the inside. And because the information I'm gathering is more important than one escape. Even mine."
The implication was clear: if Sylvie's cover held, she could continue feeding intelligence that might bring down not just D-Zone, but the entire network behind it.
Elyse felt something twist inside her. A gratitude so deep it bordered on pain, tangled with a guilt she didn't yet know how to name.
On the Wednesday before the planned Thursday escape, Shane summoned her.
She'd been dreading this. Shane had been watching her more closely recently—she could feel his attention the way one feels a spotlight, bright and inescapable. What did he want?
She found him in his office, a room that was conspicuously well-appointed compared to the rest of the compound. Air conditioning, leather furniture, a bar. Behind him, a window overlooked the courtyard where workers shuffled like ghosts.
"Sit," he said.
She sat.
Shane studied her with an expression that was difficult to read—not quite friendly, not quite threatening. He swirled amber liquor in a glass.
"You've been doing well," he said. "Very well, actually. Ahab says you're one of his best operators."
Elyse said nothing.
"I have a new role for you. Something that suits... your particular talents better." He set down his glass and leaned forward, his eyes locked on hers with unsettling precision. "You're going to work directly under me. Personal assignment."
"What kind of assignment?"
Shane's smile was thin and cold, a blade wrapped in silk. "That's not your concern yet. What you need to know is this: if you do well, your life here improves dramatically. If you don't—you've seen what happens to people who disappoint me."
It was a threat dressed as an invitation. Elyse understood that perfectly. She also understood that refusing was not an option.
"When do I start?"
"Tomorrow." He rose, signaling the end of the meeting, then paused, looking at her with a flicker of something sharper. "One more thing. Don't get any ideas about running. Every girl who's tried to escape from D-Zone... well." He gestured vaguely. "You've seen the compound walls. You've seen the guards. You belong to me now, little one. Remember that."
She remembered. But she also remembered Sylvie's words: "Prove it."
That night, as Elyse lay on her bunk, staring at the ceiling, she made her decision. Tomorrow was Thursday.
She was leaving.