Ethan didn't seat at first,he stood there surveying the ground room like it might vanish if he blinked.The Ark wasn't what he expected.It wasn't slick or high-tech.It was raw with exposed concrete walls, mismatched furniture,and a sense of urgency in the air.But there was something else too.Purpose.
Harper motioned toward a chair across the table. "Sit. You look like you're about to bolt."
Ethan hesitated, then dropped into the seat, his duffel still slung across his shoulder. He kept his hand near the zipper, close to the pistol.
Maxwell remained standing beside Harper, arms crossed. "We don't get many of us here. Most don't make it this far."
Ethan's eyes scanned the room again. The others hadn't said a word yet. A pale man in a grey hoodie with hollow eyes. A woman scribbling notes without looking up. A stocky guy hunched over a monitor, tapping rapidly.
"I need to understand what's happening," Ethan said.
Harper leaned forward. "You were selected by a group we call The Board. No names, no faces,just power. They operate from the shadows, orchestrating chaos to study human reactions. Every Courier they choose is given a target, usually through a package. The contents are designed to provoke decisions. Violent ones."
Ethan's thoughts flashed back to Elias Wynn. The argument. The gunshot.
"What was in my package?"
Harper shrugged. "We don't know. Each one's unique. But they all have one thing in common—they lead to something irreversible."
"And the photos?"
Harper tilted her head. "Which ones?"
Ethan unzipped the duffel and pulled out the Polaroids. He spread them across the table. His hands trembled, slightly.
"Someone took these of me. Hours before I even took the job. This one has a timestamp from two days before I applied to Redline."
Harper's expression darkened. "They've been watching you longer than you think. That's standard. They collect data, study behavior patterns, even manipulate small parts of your life so you think your choices are yours."
Ethan shook his head slowly. "So this is all…some kind of test?"
Harper's voice dropped. "No. It's entertainment for some, science for others. But you? You're just the lab rat."
The man in the hoodie spoke up for the first time. "What she's not saying is they also bet on us. On how long we'll survive. Whether we'll follow the path or deviate."
"Deviate?" Ethan asked.
Harper looked at Maxwell. "Show him."
Maxwell walked to a cabinet and pulled out another notebook,weathered, bound in the same black leather as Ethan's. He dropped it on the table.
"This belonged to a Courier named Marcus Alcott," Maxwell said. "He delivered a package to a politician. Hours later, the man had a mental breakdown on live TV. Three days after that, Marcus was found dead— murder staged to look like a drug overdose."
Ethan opened the notebook. The last few pages were scribbled with frantic notes.
"They found me. Don't trust the woman in the blue coat. Cameras in the clocks. I'm not crazy."
"Is he?" Ethan asked.
Harper replied, "Not when he wrote that. But they made him look crazy so no one would believe what he saw. That's how they operate.
Ethan leaned back in the chair. The weight of it all pressed down on his chest like concrete.
"How do I stop them?"
Harper looked over at the man at the computer. "Liam, show him the map."
Liam tapped a few keys, and a digital map of Brinlake appeared on the largest screen. Red dots scattered across it—dozens, maybe hundreds.
"These are known Courier activity points," Liam said. "Each dot is a delivery we've tracked through surveillance hacks, old records, or patterns. They follow zones. Ethan, yours was in Zone C,the industrial corridor."
Ethan stared. His dot blinked at the center of the map.
"There's more of us?" he whispered.
"Were," Harper said. "Most are dead. Some vanished. But we're finding more. Bits and pieces. If we gather enough data, we might find where they operate from."
Maxwell stepped closer. "That's why you're here. You're the newest piece on the board, but that means your trail is fresh. If we follow it, we might find a crack in their system."
Ethan folded his arms. "And if I say no? If I walk out of here?"
Harper leaned back. "Then you'll disappear like the rest. Either by their hands or by what they'll force you to become."
A beat of silence passed.
Ethan looked down at his notebook. The black cover felt heavier now, like it carried a curse.
"I don't want to be part of their game," he said quietly. "I want to burn the board."
Liam smirked. "That's the spirit."
Harper stood. "Then we start with the next address."
Maxwell dropped a folder in front of Ethan. Inside was a new delivery slip in Redline's format, but he hadn't taken this one.
"They're setting you up again," Maxwell said. "We intercepted the job before it hit your app. But if we play along…we might find who's behind the curtain."
Ethan's eyes narrowed at the address: 17 Willow Break. It wasn't far from his own neighborhood.
"Residential?"
Harper nodded. "But there's something off about it. No registered occupants, and no digital footprint for the last three years."
Ethan felt the stir of adrenaline. "When do we go?"
"Tonight," Harper said. "You'll do the drop. But this time,we'll be watching from the shadows."
As he stood and tucked the file under his arm, Ethan felt something shift. No longer just a pawn, he was becoming a threat. A wild card in a system built on control.
For the first time since this nightmare began, he had a plan.
And someone was going to regret ever choosing him.