was warm and smelled faintly of the chocolate chip cookies she had baked earlier. Aro

s Katia. He reached into the inner pocket of his borrowed leather jacket and extracted a micro-USB drive, smaller than a fingernail. He inserted it into the

ajama sleeve, vibrated twice. An incoming conn

irtual private networks-one in Switzerland, one in Iceland, one in Panama-making the audio call completely untra

s X. Report,"

breathless and urgent. "I'm in. Locked in

said, his voice low and clinical, cutting

ed the shattered crystal, the violent rage at Janeen's name, an

nalyzed aloud. "That level of grief... it's not the reaction of

hear him pacing on the other end of the line. "A

"But her behavioral patterns never aligned with biological maternity. I spent the last year running sentiment analysis on all her public interviews and secr

into place with h

c hospital records from five years ago, searching for any

ttack," Leo declared, his voice har

ard evidence of the medical conspiracy first. We need proof that can'

ood ran cold. He hit the kill switch, a custom-coded function key t

was holding a small tray with a glass of warm milk and a pla

em under his pillow. He looked up at her, his face

y, stepping into the room. She set the tray on

y smelled like her, like vanilla and lilies. A sharp pang of guilt

he blanket up to his chin, her touch feather-light.

anything in the worl

into soft darkness. He heard her quiet footsteps as

slipping down his cheek and soaking into the pillo

lugging them back in and re-e

h an emotion he couldn't name. "Katia. S

u're going to stay with her. Forever." A beat of silence, then his voice hardened with resolve. "It's

faint clickin

nts of Apex Capital," Leo declare

over. "Mask your IP. Use the Russian proxy servers we

m miles away, Leo smirked. He pressed

ispered, "has of