The Cold Below

The name sat in the air like a bad taste. Patagonia. Underground.

Jessica leaned back in her chair, pulse steady, but mind racing. "You're telling me Vanguard went underground. Literally."

Voss's thin smile didn’t reach his eyes. "You think an empire like Vanguard dies because you cut the head off? No. It goes deeper. It waits."

Leanna folded her arms. "Deeper into what?"

"A place no one looks," Voss said quietly. "Miles beneath the ice. Remote. Self-sufficient. Buried so far into the earth it might as well not exist."

Olivia’s voice was flat. "What are they building down there?"

Voss’s gaze lingered a second too long. "A future without you in it."

Elias shifted in his seat. "You mean soldiers."

"No." Voss shook his head slowly. "Soldiers die. Subjects fail. They're past that now. They're growing something better. Controlled bloodlines. Modified from birth. Whole generations of clean data. Perfect loyalty. No ghosts in the machine."

Jessica’s jaw tightened. Lazarus hadn’t been a project. It was a prototype. "And you expect us to just stroll into this nightmare?" Leanna asked.

Voss gave a dry, dead chuckle. "Not without bleeding for it. But there’s someone inside. Someone who never quite learned to stay loyal."

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "Another ghost?"

"Call it whatever you want." Voss leaned forward. "But if we're doing this... we move soon. Time isn't your friend down there."

Jessica stood slowly, resolve settling like a stone in her gut.

"It never was."