In the heart of London – Surveillance at a glance…

Emma checked her tablet. “Tess, talk to me. What’s the Architect doing?”
Tess’s voice came through, tight with urgency.
“Everything. He’s doing everything.”
Jake frowned. “Define everything.”
Tess took a breath.
“He’s hitting the city’s infrastructure. Not with bombs — with chaos.”
Emma’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of chaos?”
Tess rattled it off:
• Traffic control systems are failing — lights stuck on red across central London.
• Tube lines are shutting down — not from bombs, but from false alarms triggered simultaneously.
• Emergency services are being flooded with spoofed calls — thousands of them.
• Banking networks are experiencing rolling outages — ATMs offline, transactions failing.
• Hospitals are reporting system glitches — patient records are inaccessible.
Jake felt the weight of it. “He’s overwhelming the city.”
Tess didn’t disagree.
“He’s not trying to destroy London. He’s trying to break it.”
Emma whispered, “A soft kill.”
Jake nodded. “A paralysis attack.”
Tess added, “And he’s using MI5’s diverted resources to do it. Every team we sent to the river? He used that to map our response patterns.”
Emma clenched her jaw. “He’s been studying us.”
Jake’s voice hardened. “Then let’s give him something he hasn’t studied.”
Emma zoomed in on the map Tess had sent. Red dots blinked across the city — each representing a disruption, a false alarm, a triggered system failure.
Jake studied the distribution. “These aren’t random.”
Emma nodded. “He’s creating choke points.”
Jake traced a line between the clusters. “Look — they form corridors. Forced movement routes.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “He’s herding people.”
Jake finished the thought.
“Toward something.”
Tess chimed in. “I’ve been running predictive models. If you map the flow of diverted traffic, displaced commuters, and emergency reroutes…”
A new map appeared.
All the movement — all the chaos — converged on one location.
Emma stared. “No… no way.”
Jake’s stomach dropped.
Canary Wharf.

Tess confirmed it.
“He’s funnelling half the city toward the financial district.”
Emma whispered, “Jake… if he hits Canary Wharf—”
Jake finished it.
“He collapses the economy.”
Jake and Emma sprinted toward their car, weaving through the growing crowds. The city felt tense, electric, on the edge of something catastrophic.
Emma slid into the passenger seat. “Tess, what’s happening at Canary Wharf right now?”
Tess’s voice was grim.
“Evacuations. Fire alarms. Network outages. And—”
She hesitated.
Jake’s grip tightened on the wheel. “Tess. And what?”
Tess exhaled.
“And a signal. A strong one. Same signature as the primary device in Thames House.”
Emma’s blood ran cold. “He built another pulse generator.”
Jake floored the accelerator. “Where is it?”
Tess replied instantly.
“Somewhere inside One Canada Square.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “The tallest building in the district.”
Jake muttered, “Of course he’d choose the most symbolic target.”
Tess added, “And Jake… there’s something else.”
Jake braced himself. “Go on.”
Tess’s voice dropped.
“The Architect is there.”
Emma turned sharply. “You’re sure?”
“Positive. I traced a live relay. He’s inside the building.”
Jake’s jaw set.
“Then that’s where we end this.”