Page 39 of Knight

“Look at me.” His voice is sharp above the electronic chaos.

I lift my eyes to meet his, and my breath catches at the intensity I find there. He’s turned his chair to face me fully, studying my expression like he can read the truth written on my skin.

“I need you to understand something.” He leans forward, close enough that I can see the muscle jumping beneath the skin of his jaw. “If you’re lying about any of this … about not knowing what was on that phone, about why you came here … Iwillfind out. And if that happens …”

He doesn’t finish the threat. He doesn’t need to.

“I’m not lying.” My voice is soft and steady. I hold his gaze. “I thought I was meeting someone who could help me find my brother. That’s all.”

“Better hope you’re telling the truth, because right now, you’re either the perfect victim or you’re the best fucking operative I’ve ever encountered. And trust me, you don’t want me deciding it’s the latter.”

Another alarm blares. Another system dies. The heat keeps rising as more equipment fails, but I don’t notice it. Knight is so close, so focused on me, that his presence is overwhelming everything else.

“Thirty-eight minutes.” His attention snaps back to the screens, and I suck in a breath. “Try not to move. I need to focus, and your constant fidgeting isn’t helping.”

I force myself to stay still, watching him work, and trying not to think about how close he is in this confined space. About how his movements carry an edge of desperation now. About how my survival depends entirely on convincing him I’m exactly what I appear to be.

The countdown continues to tick, while Knight fights to save his … whatever it is. And I sit in the corner, trying not to move, and praying my ignorance is enough to keep me alive.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Knight

I don’t really believeshe’s a technical mastermind, not anymore. No one can keep up that level of … I cut off that train of thought, eyes narrowing as a new pattern emerges in the virus’s attack sequence.

“Fucking Victor.”

“What’s happening?” Glitch’s voice barely carries over the alarms.

“Your delivery is trying to eat my code.” Another alert flashes.

“I’m sorry.” Her soft words cut through the noise, and I glance over at her.

The message he sent pushes its way to the front of my mind.

Can you save them both? It might have to be your systems or the girl. The clock is ticking.

Save her fromwhat, though? She’s right here, watching my systems burn down with the kind of wide-eyed terror that can’t be faked.

The virus breaches another firewall as the timer hits thirty-five minutes. The other is now at ten. I don’t know what will happen when either of them reach zero. But each minute reveals more about how the attack was engineered. It’s not just Victor’s work. It carries traces of other influences. Other styles.

Almost like he’s been teaching someone else.

I rub the back of my neck with one hand, still typing with the other.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes, you can stay there, shut the fuck up and don’t touch anything.” I scan another sequence of code.

Certain sequences show Victor’s trademark elegance, but there are others that display a different approach. More aggressive. Less concerned with stealth. It’s as though someone took his foundation, then built something cruder on top of it, like using a sledgehammer to open a door instead of a lock pick. They both work. One is just less likely to be noticed.

“Those symbols. They keep repeating over and over.” She leans forward, surprising me, and points at a line of code. “Is that normal?”

“What are you, tech support now?” But she’s right. Thereisa pattern. A signature that shouldn't be there. “Be quiet and let me work.”

Sweat trickles down my spine while I trace the virus’s path.

“Son of a fucking bitch. He’s got a new student.”

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