The Million-Dollar Heart

Barnaby chuckled, a hint of steely resolve behind his humor. "I choose to have the chip removed even if it means I have to be conscious during the process."

No matter the pain, she refused to let someone else dictate the course of her life!

"The chip is currently lodged in your brain, and I'll be performing the surgery with my mom. We'll keep chatting with you throughout, and you'll even hear and feel us poking around in your noggin, so brace yourself."

It sounded simple enough, but only those who have been through it knew the agony was beyond any normal threshold of endurance.

It was akin to the trauma Arabella suffered after Brody and Vivienne had planted and then diffused a bomb inside her. The psychological scars were likely still unhealed.

Not that she had much time for healing.

Barnaby nodded in agreement. "Alright, let's get on with it."

Time was of the essence. The chip could travel through her bloodstream to any part of her body.

Noah had met his end when a similar chip had migrated near his heart. Barnaby was luckier; the chip was near her stomach when Karen intervened, sparing her life.

But now the chip had moved to his brain, and if F-Poison struck again, it would be too late.

Soon, Barnaby was wheeled back into the OR, with Karen and Vivienne scrubbing in together.

Throughout the procedure, Barnaby's eyes remained open. She could feel the drill and other surgical instruments stirring inside her skull, each nerve echoing the whine of the drill, her glands vibrating with every movement.

The sensation was indescribable.

If she had to label it, 'terrifying' would be a vast understatement.

"When was this chip put in? Can it track our location?" Barnaby inquired, curious despite the circumstances.

chips, or they'd be dead by now," Vivienne said, her gaze fixed on the screen displaying Barnaby's brain scan. Karen, manipulating the scalpel, added, "The chip can track and explode inside the body, undetectable even to the latest scanners. Think

then said, "I can't recall

Karen agreed,

we swallow a

to dig deeper. "The chip could dissolve upon entry and then slowly assemble its particles inside the body." Pausing, Karen mused, "That's a promising lead. We should engineer something similar. Imagine

even link it to the pet's retina, offering a pet's-eye view of

her casual question to spark such a lucrative brainstorm between

they were quite

it!" Vivienne

and Vivienne successfully extracted the chip from Barnaby's

slipped into

my sister going to be okay?" Caspian

just needs some sleep, and my

Madam, thank you, former captain. I'm in your

was his only family left. After years apart, it was only thanks to Vivienne and her

off the thanks. "If you're truly grateful, go do something

tears, Caspian was eager. "Anything you need,

appeared on the screen, dotted with numerous red points marking individual locations. Vivienne printed the map and handed it to Caspian. "Take this to your commander. It's time to dismantle

in for Caspian. Those red dots were the whereabouts of every member

"Yes, right away!"

a task; it was

squads arrested every marked individual, using a jamming

kill them now, there

at

was Vanguard Agency's first major victory since the "Destruction Plan,"