The help he wanted
Chapter 65: The Help He Wanted
The first person to react was Lorenzo.
Naturally.
Reasonably.
Predictably.
Very predictably.
Because Daniel had just spent months terrorizing everyone.
Hacked systems.
Sent cryptic messages.
Triggered approximately seventeen collective panic attacks.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
And now he wanted help.
The audacity.
The complete audacity.
Undefeated.
The king stepped forward.
Dangerously.
Immediately.
"No."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Daniel blinked.
Once.
Slowly.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Then he looked at Lorenzo.
Actually looked at him.
The way someone examined an interesting puzzle.
The realization irritated Lorenzo immediately.
Reasonably.
Very reasonably.
"That wasn't a request for you."
The waiting room froze.
Immediately.
The betrayal.
The dismissing-the-mafia-don betrayal.
Undefeated.
Several nearby soldiers took a step forward.
Weapons appearing.
The usual.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Amara raised a hand.
Immediately.
Everyone stopped.
Because somehow...
The surgeon remained the only person in the room Daniel seemed interested in.
A concerning development.
Very concerning.
"What help?"
Silence.
Daniel looked relieved.
Actually relieved.
Like she'd asked the correct question.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Then he said something nobody expected.
Not even Victoria.
"I think somebody is using the model."
Absolute silence.
The room froze.
Again.
A recurring problem.
Very recurring.
Amara stared.
Then stared harder.
Because that was impossible.
The entire reason everyone was here was because someone had stolen the model.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"What."
Daniel looked around the waiting room.
Then toward the windows.
Then toward the exits.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Like he was checking something.
Like he expected something.
The realization unsettled everyone.
Especially Victoria.
The specialist looked increasingly uncomfortable.
A terrible sign.
A very terrible sign.
Finally Daniel spoke.
Quietly.
Carefully.
Dangerously.
"The predictions changed."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Nobody understood.
The betrayal.
The vague-answer betrayal.
Undefeated.
Daniel sighed.
Immediately.
The universal sound of a genius dealing with normal people.
A recurring problem.
Very recurring.
"The model predicts probabilities."
A pause.
"People make choices."
Another.
"Those choices create patterns."
Silence.
Amara hated how much sense that made.
Immediately.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Then Daniel continued.
"The patterns changed three months ago."
Absolute silence.
Victoria's face went white.
Actually white.
The specialist suddenly looked like she'd been punched.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Daniel noticed.
Of course he did.
"You saw it too."
Silence.
Victoria didn't answer.
Which was answer enough.
Immediately.
Dangerously.
The realization spread through the room.
Like wildfire.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Daniel's eyes settled on Amara again.
Not Lorenzo.
Not the soldiers.
Not anyone else.
Just her.
A recurring problem.
Very recurring.
"The model should predict human behavior."
A pause.
"It stopped."
Another.
"It started predicting someone."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The room stopped functioning.
Immediately.
Because that sentence made absolutely no sense.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Amara folded her arms.
Dangerously.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel looked genuinely frustrated.
Actually frustrated.
The kind of frustration people experienced when describing impossible things.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"It means every simulation eventually arrives at the same person."
Silence.
The waiting room became deathly still.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody breathed.
Then Daniel said the name.
The name he'd been avoiding.
The name he'd spent months tracking.
The name that haunted every prediction.
Every calculation.
Every probability.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"Evelyn."
Absolute silence.
The world stopped.
Immediately.
Across the room, Victoria swore.
Again.
The betrayal.
The profanity betrayal.
Undefeated.
Because suddenly...
Everything clicked.
The warnings.
The messages.
The fear.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Amara slowly turned toward Victoria.
Then toward Daniel.
Then back again.
The pieces started moving.
Connecting.
Locking into place.
The way they always did.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"Evelyn knows."
Silence.
Daniel nodded.
Immediately.
"Yes."
Absolute silence.
The answer landed heavily.
Dangerously heavily.
Because if Evelyn knew someone was using the model...
Then she'd been running from something too.
Not just Hale.
Not just the organization.
Something else.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Then Daniel said the thing that made Amara's blood run cold.
The thing that explained why he came to Chicago.
Why he revealed himself.
Why he'd spent months searching for her.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
His voice dropped.
Quiet.
Serious.
Terrifying.
"Three days ago..."
A pause.
"I saw a prediction."
Another.
Then:
"A prediction where you die."
Absolute silence.
The clinic stopped breathing.
Completely.
Lorenzo's expression became lethal.
Immediately.
The king vanished.
Something far more dangerous appeared.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Daniel never looked away from Amara.
Not once.
Because unlike everyone else...
He wasn't watching her reaction.
He already knew it.
The realization unsettled her.
Deeply.
Then he delivered the final blow.
The worst one.
The one that changed everything.
Because he said:
"And in every version where you survive..."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
"...Evelyn dies instead."
And suddenly...
The future wasn't a mystery anymore.
It was a countdown.
End Chapter 65: The Help He Wanted