Page 34 of Knight

Because it’s the way I was taught to do it.

I can’t ignore it any longer. There’s no way I can avoid acknowledging that each solution, each modification, carries the signature of the man who taught me everything I know about pushing technology past its limits. The man who showed me how to turn hardware into art and code into poetry.

The man whodiedin prison nine years ago.

Or so I thought.

The screen flares to life, despite being in a Faraday box. Despite having no power source. Despite every security protocol I’ve designed to prevent it.

Of course itfuckingdoes. The fucking asshole always did have a flair for dramatic timing.

Lines of code scroll across the display, elegant and beautiful. A message crafted in the private language of numbers and commands that he created and taught me when I was just starting out. Back when I thought hacking was about brute force rather than artistry.

Missing me yet, Black Knight?

The words form in strings of binary, a code within a code that only two people in the world understand. The signature that follows isn’t just confirmation. It’s a fucking challenge. Proof of life wrapped up in a bow of technical brilliance.

I freeze, eyes glued to the screen as more lines appear. Each one carries his unique style, his distinctive approach to problem solving that I’d recognize anywhere.

The man who taught me that true hacking was about elegance and subtlety, about understanding systems and changing them, rather than breaking them.

I’m disappointed in you. Keeping a woman locked up in your bathroom? Tut tut. I taught you better than that.

Apparently death isn’t as permanent as the prison system advertises.

It seems that my mentor is alive and well. And he’s just used the glitch in my guest room to prove it.

Because Victor Nash doesn’t do anything without multiple layers of purpose. He taught me that too, right before he got himself arrested. Right before he supposedly died in a prison riot that I’m beginning to think was just another layer of some long-game he never informed me of.

The screen flickers with one final message.

Time to graduate, Black Knight. Let’s see if you’ve learned enough to survive the final exam.

The words fade, leaving me staring at a blank screen that shouldn’t have worked in the first place.

In the bedroom, through my feed, Glitch makes a small sound in her sleep, completely oblivious to the fact she’s just helped deliver the opening move in a chess game where the stakes could literally be life or death. But what piece does she represent, and what the fuck is his end game?

I lean back in my chair, rolling my head from side to side.

Welcome to fucking graduation day. Let the games begin.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Evangeline

The lights snap on,startling me awake. I blink, throwing an arm across my eyes to protect them from the sudden change from dark to bright. A shape forms in the doorway, slowly coming into focus until I recognize it as Knight. The expression on his face makes my heart stop. My eyes immediately go to his hand, checking for signs of his gun, but there’s nothing there.

“Get up. Now.” His voice is sharp.

I give zero thought to arguing, and scramble out of bed, nearly falling when the blanket tangles around my legs. “What? What’s happening? I didn’t do anything.”

“Main room. Move.”

He herds me down the hallway, so close behind me I can feel his breath against the back of my neck. Something is different about the living room when I enter. There’s a strange humming noise coming from behind the door he disappeared through earlier. The air feels warmer, like someone has cranked up the heat.

“Sit.” He points to the couch. “And don’t move.”

“What’s going on?”

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