Page 102 of Reckless: Collision

“Yes.” Ryker’s response carries weight beyond the single word.

I should tell them. About the USB. About the pattern of betas getting sick with symptoms that don’t make sense. About how Sterling Labs isn’t just targeting omegas—they’re experimenting on all of us. But if I’m wrong, if I’ve misread the data...

“Why?” The question comes out rougher than intended.

“Because you saw something in their systems that set them off,” Jinx’s hand finds my shoulder, and I almost flinch under the weight of what he doesn’t know. “Something big enough that they’re willing to risk attacking Omega Guardian facilities. And because this...” He gestures to the schematics, to the evidence of Sterling’s latest attack. “This is personal now.”

Personal. Like the encrypted files showing beta after beta admitted to hospitals with identical symptoms. Like the rage building in my chest at Sterling Labs thinking they can use us all as test subjects. Like the secrets I’m keeping from these four men who are finally starting to trust me.

“When?” I ask, pushing down the guilt. After the mission. After I decrypt those files and know for sure. Then I’ll tell them everything.

“Tomorrow night.” Finn brings up more schematics. “Ryker, Jinx, and I go in from the west. We’ll need you to be our eyes, our ears, and our guardian angel in their systems. Theo you are our driver and lookout when we go in.”

I nod, mind already racing with preparations. With possibilities. Maybe while I’m in their systems, I can find confirmation of what I suspect. Maybe I can finally understand why they’re targeting betas, why they’re now going after omegas, how it all connects.

“What aren’t you telling me about the sample? What else are we looking for in there?”

The four of them exchange looks that carry whole conversations. Finally, Ryker steps forward, the room shrinking around his presence as others instinctively create space.

“We think Sterling Labs isn’t just making heat accelerants.” His voice drops lower. “We think they’re working on something bigger. Something that could change the entire designation dynamic. And we need to know what it is before more omegas end up in comas. Or worse.”

My heart pounds. They’re so close to the truth, yet still missing crucial pieces. Pieces hidden in the data I’ve buried in their house.

“Alright.” I stand, squaring my shoulders and making a decision. Once I’m back in their systems, I’ll find the proof I need. Then I can tell them everything. “Let’s plan a heist.”

The planning continues, each detail dissected and analyzed. I focus on memorizing access points, security rotations, the rhythm of a high-stakes infiltration. But beneath every word, every nod, every shared look between them, my mind circles back to that USB drive hidden somewhere in this mansion.

They think Sterling Labs is working on designation manipulation through omegas. They’re not wrong. But they’re missing half the equation.

Because while they’ve been focused on omega trafficking and heat accelerants, I’ve uncovered something else. Something that makes my hands shake when I think about it too long.Hundreds of betas, all showing the same impossible symptoms. All connected to Sterling Labs in ways that shouldn’t exist.

Finn pulls up another schematic, and I force myself to focus. To be present. To help plan this mission that could expose part of Sterling’s operation. But not all of it. Not yet.

“We’ll need you monitoring from the security room here,” Ryker points to a location on the basement floor plan. “It’s got the strongest signal, and the most protection if anything goes wrong.”

I nod, already planning how to partition my searches. How to look for their accelerant data while secretly confirming my theories about the beta experiments. How to help them while still investigating the truth they don’t even know to look for.

“You okay with this?” Jinx asks quietly, his hand still steady on my shoulder. “With being back in their systems?”

“Yeah,” I say, and it’s not entirely a lie. I am okay with being back in their systems. I’m just not okay with the weight of what I might find there. Of what I already know and haven’t told them.

But soon. Soon I’ll have proof of what Sterling Labs is doing to betas. Soon I’ll understand why they’re targeting both designations. Soon I’ll be able to tell them everything.

I just pray that when I do, when they learn I’ve kept this secret while they’ve given me their trust, they’ll understand why I had to be sure first.

Why I had to protect this truth until I could prove it wasn’t just another conspiracy theory. Until I could show them that Sterling Labs isn’t just trying to control omegas—they’re trying to rewrite designation biology itself.

Starting with betas like me.

Chapter 23

Cayenne

“You understand?”Finn blinks at me for the hundredth time, his glasses catching the blue glow of multiple screens like fractured stars. His normally pristine office has transformed into a war room of organized chaos—mission papers spiral out from his laptop like fallen leaves, each one marked with his precise handwriting that gets progressively more jagged toward the edges, betraying his mounting anxiety. The air is thick with the bitter perfume of cold coffee and that distinctly beta scent of his—earl grey and worn leather books, now tinged with stress-sharp edges that make my teeth ache.

“Let me break it down for you one more time, Professor Paranoid.” I pop another cracker in my mouth, deliberately letting the salt-sharp crumbs rain down onto his meticulously organized chaos. Each fallen crumb makes his left eye twitch, a tactical advantage I’ve been exploiting all morning. “Sneaky-sneaky, get in, park my gorgeous self in front of enough screens to make a Twitch streamer weep with envy, let my fingers weave their criminal magic, and ghost before anyone knows their security’s been reduced to digital confetti.”

His scent shifts—the sharp tang of leather softening around the edges, warming with notes of honey and sunlight that betrayhis irritation as mostly performance. His left eye twitches when I drop another crumb, but the corner of his mouth quirks upward before he can catch it.

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