v

n't s

coul

e for hours like it might

aced i

ey get int

ntly... what the

I'd done was call the building manager and ask

sai

new som

my kitchen counter. And I sure as hell d

ere w

see the letters etched in my mind, written in thick black ink like the

flash drive into my l

to life

rs. No p

gle video

OPE

wasn't wha

some horrifying proof of

ny, timestamped, captured from m

my desk. Opening that file in the arc

feed from insi

here with my face turning ashe

n brushing my hair. Then lying down, exhausted,

nds.Blinking rapidly in hopes

n watching m

op shut, breath fr

dn't just monito

nvaded

a

drive contained befo

s a w

ng questions. The same people who had buried the Thorne files. The sam

were

t just an

supposed to ex

a new toy, the stepsister I never planned to meet

l, I wat

Watched her pretend

it to the police

ame t

r dangerous

redibly

v

I stepped out like a ghost bar

desk with coffee i'd co

re ea

I muttered, slid

intern who's ever bee

asn't

his office. The glass was fros

ecided what to d

ane, I might be w

omeone else mi

I kep

ust maybe, I

" a deep v

new that voic

e G

didn't look at me as he spoke, just gesture

idn't

"How do you

Because you didn't come

ked, c

're threatened in their own

did

acked. "You

I know

nyone do that ... why would the

t' anything in

?" I asked, a l

d at me.

art pounding.

dn't

uld,"

you w

irk of his mouth. Not quite

n us. "What you stumbled into isn't just company secrets. It's blood money. It's surveillance dea

ned. "Then why a

wn at me, ey

because I need someone on th

ead. "You do

ow en

fice and pulled something from a l

n't log anything in the system. Use the room on the 13

f I sa

ith something clo

er than I thought

as r

say no. I

ng. No windows. No décor. Just a single table, a

and opened

Transaction records. Export lice

I didn't ex

Biome

dary company. The one

d: "Neural extraction interface. Subje

idea what

w it wasn

ran deeper than I eve

that e

darting at every corner. It was like paranoia lived

apartment, I half-expected

quiet,a bit

pt

lted it twice, and dr

out the flas

t it for a

ed all the

t because the real evidence

ane Grey had dragged me into I w