Now?
Now he was the center of it.
Cain wanted something.
Eli’s father had been involved in something bigger.
And the Mask? It was real.
John had no choice anymore.
If he didn’t find it first, Cain would.
And something deep in his gut told him—he couldn’t let that happen.
John didn’t go back to Eli right away.
He needed a plan.
Cain had the resources. The manpower. The reach.
John had nothing.
Except for one advantage.
Cain didn’t know how much John knew.
That meant he had time. Not much, but enough to move first.
So he started where all secrets began.
In the shadows.
Dr. Elias Ren had worked for Cain. That was fact.
He had vanished two years ago. Another fact.
But before that?
Before that, he had been looking for something.
John needed to know where that search had taken him.
Which meant one thing.
It was time to go deeper.
Not all knowledge was digital.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Some things were too dangerous to leave behind as data.
Which was why people like Vera existed.
Vera was an information broker—not the kind that sold secrets, but the kind that hoarded them.
If Ren’s research had left a trail, Vera would know.
The only problem?
She didn’t work for free.
Vera’s hideout was buried beneath an old bookstore—a vault of forgotten information.
John found her exactly where he expected.
Behind a massive wooden desk, surrounded by stacks of handwritten ledgers and dusty books.
She didn’t look up as he entered.
"John," she murmured. "Didn’t think you’d be back."
John leaned against the doorway. "I need a name."
Vera smirked. "You always do."
John slid a folded note across the counter.
Vera picked it up, unfolded it—and the smirk disappeared.
She looked at John. Really looked at him.
"You have no idea what you’re asking for," Vera said.
John didn’t blink. "Then it’s worth something, isn’t it?"
A long pause.
Then, Vera exhaled.
"Follow me."
Vera led John into the back room, past shelves of old computer parts and buried data drives that people thought were lost.
She stopped at a rusted console, fingers moving over the keyboard.
"This is all I got," Vera muttered.
John stepped forward as a single file appeared on the cracked screen.
A research log.
- Name: Dr. Elias Ren
- Project: [REDACTED]
- Last Known Location: CLASSIFIED
John’s pulse quickened.
Vera leaned back. "That’s all that’s left. Everything else? Scrubbed clean."
John stared at the words.
His gut told him this was it.
But before he could process it—
Vera sighed. "You should leave, kid."
John frowned. "Why?"
Vera’s expression darkened.
"Because if you found this?" she muttered. "Then Cain already knows you were looking."
John’s stomach dropped.
John moved.
Fast.
He turned for the door, heart hammering.
He had wasted too much time. Vera was right.
Cain was always ahead.
And right now?
John was in the worst possible place to be caught.
He stepped into the front room—
And froze.
A figure stood by the entrance.
Not a street thug.
Not Vance.
Not even Sable.
No.
This was someone else.
Someone John had never seen before—but instantly recognized.
A man in a tailored black coat, his presence like a blade hidden beneath silk.
And his eyes—cold, calculating—locked onto John with quiet amusement.
"Found what you were looking for?" the man asked smoothly.
John’s pulse spiked.
Because he knew exactly who this was.
One of Cain’s top enforcers.
A man known only as Sable.
And John?
John was trapped.