Chapter 79: The Spider Web
Madrid, Midnight – Two Weeks Later
In a quiet corner of the Royal Post and Telegraph Station, a man in maintenance overalls unlocked a side panel of the telegraph repeater. He moved with confidence—too much confidence for someone supposedly low in the hierarchy. Inside the panel, he retrieved a small copper device, attached to the primary line like a parasite. It blinked red once, then powered off.
He slipped it into his coat and walked away, nodding at the guard who barely looked up from his coffee.
Outside, a carriage waited. The man climbed in, shut the door behind him, and exhaled.
"You were right," he said. "They’re using encrypted pulses now. And internal memos suggest all state communication lines are shifting to alternating phase codes."
Opposite him sat a woman in a veiled bonnet. Her accent was Britannian, but her posture was military.
Lady Marguerite Ellenshire tapped the side of her notebook. "We need a sample of that phase code. And soon. We’ve only cracked a third of the last batch."
"I’ll try. But their security rotations change every forty hours. They’re using clockwork triggers tied to internal power nodes—if I’m caught, there won’t be a body left."
Marguerite’s expression didn’t change. "Then don’t get caught."
She signaled the driver, and the carriage rolled off into the early morning fog.
Meanwhile – Royal Engineering Complex, Calvaria
Beneath layers of concrete and steel, Prince Lancelot stood with Chief Engineer Bernardo Estevez inside the War Logistics Vault. The chamber resembled a cathedral more than a bunker—arched supports, electric chandeliers, and rows of humming prototype systems.