The image on the screen haunted them Kaira, bound to a chair, fear carved deep into her young face. The countdown on the wall behind her showed 47:58:33 and ticking.
Amira couldn't breathe. Her heart thudded so loud she could barely hear Adaobi calling her name.
"We don't have time," David said, voice shaking. "We need to find where she is."
Adaobi sprang into action, plugging in a signal tracker.
"If this message was sent, it left a digital footprint," she said. "And I know how to follow shadows."
Lines of code flashed across her screen.
"It was routed through three dummy servers," she muttered. "But whoever did this got sloppy there's a glitch in the timestamp."
"You can find her?" Amira asked, desperate.
"Maybe. But we'll need help."
Just then, a knock on the door startled them all.
They froze.
David peered through the peephole then looked stunned.
"It's Ella."
Amira's heart stopped.
Ella stepped inside, her face pale but determined.
"I know you have the flash drive," she said without hesitation. "And I know who's behind this."
David stepped forward. "How?"
Ella hesitated, then dropped a bombshell.
"Because I used to work for him."
Ella sat down, her voice trembling.
"His name isn't really Sterling. That's a front. He's part of a shadow organization they deal in secrets, power, and political blackmail."
"He wants that flash drive because it contains more than just family secrets," she added. "It holds encrypted files evidence of human trafficking, illegal experiments, and political murders."
Adaobi's hands clenched the edge of her table. "And Kaira?"
"She's leverage. If you expose what's on that drive, they'll lose everything. So now they'll use everything to stop you."
Amira remembered the letter from Nora Sterling.
"You are the key…"
"What if," Amira whispered, "there's something else on that drive we haven't unlocked yet?"
Adaobi nodded. "Let me try one more thing."
She typed rapidly.
A hidden folder blinked open, labeled "The Last Protocol."
Inside was a single video.
They clicked play.
Rihanna's face appeared.
She was younger. Sweating. Afraid.
"If you're seeing this it means they've found you. Don't trust anyone. Not even family. The truth is not in the drive. It's in Kaira."
The screen went black.
Amira's knees buckled.
Kaira wasn't just a target.
She was the key.
Adaobi's laptop screen glitched static buzzed, then cleared.
A live stream appeared.
Kaira, still tied up.
Then a masked figure entered the frame.
He looked into the camera.
And spoke clearly:
"Come alone, Amira. Leave the others. Bring the drive."
"Or she disappears forever."
The screen went dark.
The timer blinked: 46:10:27
David grabbed Amira's hand.
"What do we do?"
She looked up, eyes burning with fear and fire.
"We save my sister."