THE SHAPE OF HIS CONTROL

long enough for Elara t

h quiet authority. He didn't look at her not once but she could feel his awareness like

re we going

ugh," Row

d her everythi

e faint hum of machinery and the awareness that every second car

understood immediately why no

r didn't

buildings in sharp geometric patterns, a grid of wealth and power glowing against the dark. Inside, the space was immacula

ed surprise

lodged cold and h

," she sai

Rowan r

d them a

red them

face him. "I'm

d calmly. "You

g more than i

. Inside was a desk, a high backed chair, and a terminal already awake,

ork here,

her arms. "A

presence anything but. "Then the people monitoring your digita

caught. "Yo

the f

to, she stepped closer and opened t

page was

t recognize, moments she didn't remember being watch

thundered

his?" she

ment," Rowan sai

ecords. Illegal routes. Patterns she recognized-patterns sh

d. "Your predictive model didn't just optimize l

ork," she said

es

tell me it c

didn'

led. "You could

then you might have disa

r shut. "So you decid

to keep y

ost of my

n cool and unyielding. "Freedom i

ink you des

you'll understand why it

landed lik

ause you want to live. And because p

for how accu

sked for. "You'll have access to what you need

I try to

ze. "Then I stop

lowed was heavy with

stopping at the do

d him, Elara sank into the cha

't in an

of glass, and everyone