Harrison was pacing the floor of the penthouse when the elevator doors slid open. His right shoulder was freshly bandaged, but his shirt was still off, exposing the thick muscles of his chest and the dark bruising from the car crash. The moment he saw Julius walk out, the tight line of his jaw eased just a fraction. He closed the distance between them in three long strides, his hands coming up to cup Julius’s face.

"Are you alright?" Harrison asked, his voice low and gravelly. "Your mother? What happened at the estate?"

Julius didn’t pull away this time. He let Harrison hold him, leaning into the warmth of the man’s palms. The anger that had been simmering between them all morning was completely gone, replaced by a cold, quiet stillness.

"They tore her office apart," Julius said, his voice flat as he walked past Harrison into the living room. "But she’s safe. And she told me everything, Harrison. She told me about Arthur Vance and Victor Sterling. She told me about the digital drive my father hid, and why they are coming for me."

Harrison went completely still. He dropped his hands to his sides, his eyes searching Julius’s face. "Julius..."

"I know I’m the key," Julius interrupted, turning around to face him. He looked straight into the Enigma’s dark eyes. "My facial recognition. My DNA. A phrase locked inside my head that I can’t even remember. My entire existence is a target for these people. They don’t want to kill me, Harrison. They want to capture me and use me to unlock a weapon."

Harrison closed his eyes for a brief second, a heavy breath leaving his chest. A sharp beep from the main security console on the wall broke the moment. Harrison walked over and pressed a button, bringing up a live video feed.

A young man with messy hair and glasses appeared on the screen. It was Harrison’s top tech specialist.

"Boss, I got them," he said, his fingers flying across a keyboard off-screen. "I tracked the communication signals from the SUV that hit your car, and I cross-referenced the digital footprint with the security cameras near the Vane estate during the raid. They all lead back to one place."

"Where?" Harrison demanded.

"An old, abandoned warehouse district down by the docks," the man said, a map popping up on the screen. "Building number four. The heat signatures show at least twelve heavily armed men inside. They are packing up equipment. It looks like they are preparing to move out before the police trace the vehicles."

"Good work. Cut the local camera feeds around that block. Keep our movements off the grid," Harrison ordered.

"On it, boss."

Harrison turned back to Julius, his hand automatically reaching for the heavy handgun resting on the kitchen counter. He grabbed a dark jacket from the back of a chair and threw it over his shoulders, hiding the bandage.

A slow, dark smirk touched Harrison’s lips. "Let’s go baby." Julius nodded his head.

The air down by the docks was thick with the smell of salt and old oil. Building number four sat at the very end of the pier, its large metal doors slightly cracked open, a faint yellowish light spilling out onto the dirt.

Harrison and Julius moved through the shadows with total silence. There was no waiting for a team. Harrison kicked the heavy metal door off its latch with one powerful blow from his boot.

The two guards standing just inside the door didn’t even have time to raise their weapons. Harrison fired two shots, the bullets catching them cleanly in the chest before they could make a sound. They hit the floor.

"Intruders!" a voice shouted from the back of the deep warehouse.

The silence was instantly replaced by the deafening roar of gunfire. Bullets started flying about. Harrison pulled Julius behind a pillar, his large body completely shielding him from the oncoming fire.

"Three on the catwalk above," Harrison hissed, his scent turning wildly aggressive, filling the warehouse with a suffocating pressure. "Two near the trucks."

"I’ve got the catwalk," Julius said.

Before Harrison could pull him back, Julius swung around the side of the pillar. He raised his weapon, firing three precise shots up toward the metal railing. The first man tumbled over the edge, crashing hard into the concrete below. The other two scrambled for cover, but Julius didn’t stop.

He moved forward, his Alpha instincts taking over, his movements fast and entirely lethal. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Harrison moved right alongside him, a terrifying force of pure Enigma brutality. He destroyed everything in his path. He caught one guard trying to reload, grabbing the man by his throat and slamming him against a wall with enough force to crack it.

Harrison fired a shot directly under the man’s chin without blinking, letting the body drop like trash.

Within five minutes, the chaotic noise of the gunfight died down to nothing. In the center of the warehouse, a lone man was crawling through the pool of blood toward the exit. It was the lead shooter from the street ambush, his leg shattered by one of Julius’s bullets.

Harrison walked over, his heavy boot coming down hard on the man’s wounded leg. The shooter let out a loud, agonized scream, his fingers clawing at the dirty floor.

Julius stepped up, his face covered in a light sheen of sweat and a small splatter of blood on his cheek. He pointed his gun directly at the man’s forehead.

"Who sent you?" Julius demanded, his voice dangerously calm. "Give me the names."

The man laughed through the dark blood filling his mouth, his teeth stained red. "You think... you think we know? We are just the cleanup crew, sweetheart. We don’t get names."

Harrison pressed his boot down harder, making the bones pop. "Talk."

"I’m telling the truth!" the man screamed, his head banging against the floor. "The job came through an encrypted line. Anonymous. A blind account from an off-shore bank transferred five million into our warehouse fund. We were just told to raid the Vane estate and bring the son alive. We don’t know who the real boss is. Check the phone... check the phone in my pocket!"

Julius knelt down, his fingers dipping into the man’s bloody jacket pocket to pull out a phone. He swiped through the recent logs. There were no names. Just a single string of numbers and an anonymous, automated text message giving the orders and the coordinates.

The shooter was telling the truth. They were just puppets.

Julius stood up, looking down at the device. "He’s telling the truth. It’s a dead end. They used a completely clean line."

Harrison didn’t hesitate. He raised his weapon and fired one final shot, silencing the lead shooter permanently. He wiped a streak of blood from his own cheek, his eyes turning back to Julius. The adrenaline from the fight was still humming between them, their scents mixing together in the empty warehouse.

"We need to get back," Harrison said, his voice deep.

Julius looked at the phone in his hand, then looked up at Harrison. "I need to access it," Julius said softly, his voice echoing in the quiet room.

"I need to find a way to remember what my father did. If I can’t remember the phrase or the code, we are just waiting around for the next batch of puppets to show up. We will always be on the defensive."

Harrison didn’t answer him. He stood perfectly still in the shadows, his face turning away slightly so Julius couldn’t see his expression.

In his mind, a cold wave of dread washed over Harrison. He looked at Julius’s beautiful, determined face, and his fists clenched tightly inside his pockets. If he accesses those memories, Harrison thought to himself, if he unlocks that drive, he will throw himself directly into the path of the real monsters. I spent twenty-five years locking his pain away so he could live in the light. I am not letting him drag himself back into the dark.

But Harrison didn’t say any of that out loud. He just turned toward the exit, his voice a low rumble.

"Let’s go to the office, baby. We are done here, we have a lot of thing’s to clear."