Private.24.07.04.barbie.rous.and.renata.fox.gon...

Barbie examined the card, then glanced at the briefcase. “She wants it safe, not gone. She’s playing a dangerous game.”

Barbie was already moving, a blur of pink and steel. She vanished into a side hallway, disappearing behind a locked door that was already being forced open. I seized the moment, ducked into an empty service corridor, and ran for the service stairs. I emerged onto the rain‑slick streets just as the police sirens began to wail. I slipped into a waiting car—a black 1968 Mustang, its engine growling low. The driver, a man in a dark trench coat, turned his head and gave me a nod. He knew the route, the back alleys, the hidden tunnels that cut through the city like veins.

I leaned back, feeling the weight of the city settle on my shoulders. “And why do you want it?” Private.24.07.04.Barbie.Rous.And.Renata.Fox.Gon...

She stepped aside, leaving the briefcase exposed for a moment. I slipped my fingers around the lock, feeling the faint vibration of the biometric sensor. My mind raced. I’d come prepared: a small vial of synthetic DNA— a perfect copy of Barbie’s own genetic markers, harvested from a discarded hair strand I’d recovered weeks earlier. I applied a single droplet to the scanner. The lock clicked, the alarm remained silent, and the case opened with a soft sigh.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. 2 a.m. was hours away, and I had a name, a motive, and a target: the 24th floor of the Gorgon, where a private party was scheduled for a handful of high‑profile investors. Barbie Rous was expected to be there— she never missed a chance to showcase her latest acquisition. Barbie examined the card, then glanced at the briefcase

Project GON, according to the leaked documents Renata had secured, was a prototype nanotech weapon capable of rewriting genetic code on a massive scale. In the wrong hands, it could be used to create bio‑engineered diseases, or to rewrite the DNA of a population to make them subservient. The world needed someone to keep that technology from ever seeing the light of day. The night of the party, rain hammered against the glass façade of the Gorgon. The building’s lobby pulsed with a red carpet, a line of flashing cameras, and a host of bodies dressed in designer suits and gowns. I slipped in through the service entrance, badge in hand, and made my way to the private elevator. The doors slid open with a soft sigh, revealing a narrow shaft that led straight to the 24th floor.

She laughed, a sound that reminded me of a wind chime in a summer storm. “No, Private. It’s the beginning of a new story— one where the only thing we keep private is our humanity.” She vanished into a side hallway, disappearing behind

Renata slid a small envelope across the table. Inside: a floor plan, a list of guests, and a single photograph—a woman with platinum hair and a cheekbone so sharp it could cut glass. The caption read:

I tipped my hat, the rain still drumming against the warehouse roof. “Just another case, Renata. Just another case.”

“Barbie Rous,” she corrected, as if the answer were a piece of a puzzle I should have already known. “She’s not a toy. She’s a woman— a former intelligence operative who went rogue after a mission went south. She took something valuable… something I need.”