e ashes, somet

"Before you wiped it, did you see the root key?

led a 'superfluous data fragment' in the syst

m architecture I designed. I built it in as a failsafe, hidden so deep no o

ts later, a single, impossibly long alphanumeric string appeared on

e drive. It was my only weapo

ing in,

Julian warned. "Their new se

I replied, a cold smile touching my

walking through the halls of my old house, only to find it had been taken over by squatters. The digital atmosphere felt wrong, corrupted. Surveillance protocols, like

y memory. I made my way to the audio logs for the main lab, wanting

s were low, intimate. It was Sil

as silk. "The Aegis CEO is personally flying in to see the de

. Her voice was breathy, v

d. "The way you handled that reporter'

up a nomination for the Archer Prize to help you finish that quantum computing

prestigious award in our field, but the awards ceremony was the same week his final presentation was due. I dropped out of the running, stayed in the lab with hi

m, I realized it was

cold amusement that made my stomach turn. "It's what made her the perfec

planning it?" Emily

ld my breath, my heart

hisper. "I knew she had the kind of mind I needed. I just had to cultivate her, groom her. Make

upport, every fatherly piece of advice... it had all been a calculated, long-con. A carefully constructed cage built around me, baited