SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 135

A thunderous boom shook the early morning quiet. Orange flame shot into the dark sky as Substation 12 of the Phoenix Grid exploded. Pieces of metal and concrete flew in all directions. The night security guard, having stepped outside for a cigarette moments earlier, stared in shock from the parking lot.

Three blocks away, Rose watched from the passenger seat of a stolen van, her facit by the distant flames. A small smile played on her lips as smoke rose into the night sky. “Beautiful,” she whispered. "Just like I planned.”

Beside her, Herod gripped the steering wheel, his face tight. "Drive now, admire later," he said, shifting the van into gear." Security cameras might have caught us."

As they sped away, emergency sirens began to wail in the distance. Fire trucks and police cars raced toward the burning substation.

"Phase one complete," Rose said, her voice filled with satisfaction. "Now we wait for phase two, the system collapse."

Herod kept his eyes on the road, his mind racing through escape routes, contingency plans. There was no going back now. They had crossed the final line.

*** **

Camille jolted awake to the sound of her phone ringing. She fumbled for it in the darkness, Alexander stirring beside her.

"Camille Kane," she answered, voice still thick with sleep.

Her body tensed as she listened. "How bad?" she asked, already climbing out of bed. "How many injured?"

Alexander sat up, instantly alert at her tone.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," Camille said, ending the call. She turned to Alexander, her face pale in the dim

light. "Someone bombed Substation 12. No one hurt, but the Grid is destabilizing."

"Rose," Alexander said. It wasn't a question.

"Has to be." Camille pulled clothes from her closet with shaking hands. "Hannah's

already at control headquarters. The backup systems are holding for now, but if we don't reroute power soon, we could lose the whole eastern sector."

Alexander was already dressing. "I'll drive you."

They raced through the pre-dawn streets, the city still quiet

except for emergency vehicles heading toward the

smoke rising in the distance. Camille clutched her phone, watching real-

time alerts from the Grid's monitoring system.

"Junction 17 showing stress, she muttered. "Power loads increasing on the northern relay."

Her phone rang again. Hannah's voice came through, tight with panic.

"It's spreading faster than we predicted," she said without preamble. "The safety protocols are shutting down relays

to prevent overload, but that's pushing too much power to the remaining

stations."

"Can you bypass the safety protocols manually?" Camille asked.

"Too risky. We'd burn out the whole system. We need to redirect the power flow from the damaged substation."

"I'm almost there," Camille promised.

The Grid control center hummed with frantic activity when they arrived. Engineers rushed between workstations. Warning signals flashed on screens. Hannah stood in the center, issuing instructions, her usual "Camille!" Relief washed over Hannah's face. "The situation's getting worse."

main control panel. Displays showed the Phoenix Grid as an interconnected web

Yellow warning indicators spread outward like a disease,

points throughout the

will it fail next?" she asked, eyes scanning the

three junctions. "Any of these could go. When one does,

Alexander studied the

"Can you isolate Substation 12

we do, we lose power to eight

losing the whole eastern sector," Camille decided.

12 went dark. Warning lights across the board flashed as the Grid adjusted to the sudden change. "Power load redistributing," Hannah

capacity.

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Chapter 135

Camille leaned

through the western sector

shifted from red to

Hannah said,

now," Camille cautioned. "But we've

*

to answer, his expression

at the substation," he reported when he retumed. "Professional job. They're checking

"She's escalated. This isn't just sabotage

at the scene," Alexander added. "They're calling

After all their work, all their success, Rose had managed to cast a shadow

Hannah suddenly called out. "Junction 17

turned to the

the northern sector-flashed

shouldn't be surging," Camille said, rushing back to the controls. "We rerouted away from

"Someone's tampering with the load balancers remotely. They're forcing power into that

down!" Camille

responding!"

terminal. "It's a secondary attack. They're hacking the system while we're

cold dread spread through her chest. Rose

physical attack, she'd coordinated a cyber attack to follow, hitting

disconnect Junction 17 before it overloads and takes down the northern sector."

Hannah said. "The junction box is in the Riverside

"I know." Camille grabbed

and coordinate with Hannah. I'm

caught her arm. “It could be a

it's a trap," Camille replied, her eyes hard. "But if we lose the northern sector, hospitals will lose power.

held her gaze for a long moment, then

already moving toward the door. "Send them after me. And keep working

back, shut down Junction 17

The drive

Camille kept Hannah on speakerphone, listening to

Hannah reported. "Safety

harder, weaving through early morning traffic. "Hold

facility loomed ahead, a concrete building

Camille screeched to a halt at the gate, swiping her security card. The gate slid open too slowly. She drummed her fingers on

Hannah's voice

red emergency lights bathed the corridor in an eerie glow.

she approached the

the manual disconnect?" she

panel. You'll need your override

through the door into the control

dangerously high numbers. She spotted the blue panel and ran toward it. Her fingers trembled as she entered her override code. The