Chapter 75 Lark
Lark
Location: Safehouse
Idon’t see it on the screen.
I see it between the data.
In the gaps.
In the timing.
In the way the systems are leaning toward each other.
My breath catches.
“He’s not staging attacks,” I whisper.
Aaron steps closer. “Then what is he doing?”
I don’t look at him.
I can’t.
Because if I lose this thread—
we lose everything.
“He’s staging responses.”
Silence.
Confusion behind me.
But Ronan…
Ronan goes still.
“What does that mean?” Aaron asks.
“It means the events themselves aren’t the weapon,” I say, fingers already moving across the keyboard. “They’re triggers.”
Code scrolls.
Systems map.
Threads connect.
Faster.
Faster.
“Oh my God…”
Ronan’s voice cuts in. “What?”
I pull three data streams together—overlay them.
And there it is.
Perfect.
Horrifying.
Elegant.
“He’s going to trigger three simultaneous crises,” I say. “Different cities. Different systems. They’ll look completely unrelated.”
Aaron’s voice tightens. “And?”
“And each one will force emergency response protocols,” I continue. “Government overrides. Infrastructure lockdowns. Authority escalation.”
I turn the screen so they can see.
“Individually, they’ll make sense.”
My throat tightens.
“Together… they normalize permanent control.”
No one speaks.
Because they understand.
Not just the damage.
The shift.
Aaron steps closer. “And if you stop it?”
I finally look at him.
And this part…
This is the trap.
“If I stop the cascade cleanly,” I say, “he flips a kill switch on one of the systems—something catastrophic enough that it looks like interference caused it.”
A beat.
“He blames me.”
Silence slams into the room.
Heavy.
Final.
Jace’s voice cuts through it—quiet, almost thoughtful.
“He’s her mirror.”
I nod once.
“Yes.”
Because that’s exactly what this is.
Not an attack.
A conversation.
A challenge.
A test.
“And he built it,” I say softly,
“so only I can see it in time.”
Which means—
I’m the only one who can fail.