SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 135

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."

to the main control panel. Displays showed the Phoenix Grid as an interconnected web of light. One section

its connecting relays. Yellow warning

throughout

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

three junctions. "Any of these could go.

Alexander studied the

"Can you isolate Substation

do, we lose power to eight city blocks," Hannah

losing the whole eastern sector," Camille

commands into the system. On the main display, the connections to Substation 12 went dark. Warning lights across the board flashed

capacity.

1/3

Chapter 135

Camille leaned

the keyboard. "Rerouting through the western sector

shifted from red to

said, not quite believing

we've lost redundancy.

*

to answer, his expression growing darker as

evidence of explosives at the substation," he reported when he retumed. "Professional

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

the scene," Alexander added. "They're calling it a terrorist attack on the

their work, all their success, Rose had managed to cast a shadow over the Grid's triumph. If public confidence in the system fell, everything they'd built

surge!" Hannah suddenly called out. "Junction 17 is

the main display.

for the

to the controls. "We

flew over her keyboard. "Someone's tampering with the load balancers remotely.

it down!"

can't! The controls aren't responding!" Hannah's voice rose with

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

dread spread through her chest. Rose hadn't just

attack to follow, hitting

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

Hannah said. "The junction box

"I know." Camille grabbed

coordinate with Hannah.

arm. “It

her eyes hard. "But if we lose

gaze for a long moment, then nodded.

said, already moving toward the door. "Send them after me. And

you get control back,

The drive

Riverside took twelve agonizing minutes. Camille kept

hundred ten percent capacity," Hannah reported. "Safety systems

harder, weaving through early morning traffic.

ahead, a concrete building surrounded by

security card. The gate

hundred fifteen percent," Hannah's voice crackled

haphazardly and ran for the building entrance. Inside, red emergency lights bathed the

equipment grew louder as she

manual disconnect?" she asked

panel. You'll need

the door into the control

showing dangerously high numbers. She spotted the blue

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