Chapter 14 · One Life, Twice

The tracker burns.

Aiden's wrist flares white-hot at 2 a.m., right in the middle of pulling a double shot for a college kid who's been chain-smoking study pills. He nearly drops the portafilter. The pain lasts three seconds, then nothing. Just the usual cool metal against his skin.

Except one of the bars is lit. Again.

He stares at it. Bar seventy-three. He saved that life two weeks ago—some tourist who stepped into traffic on Fifth. Aiden pulled him back, the guy didn't even look up from his phone, and the tracker logged it. Done. Seventy-three out of two thousand.

Now it's glowing like it just happened.

"Uh, dude?" The college kid waves a hand. "My espresso?"

Aiden shoves the cup across the counter, doesn't look up. He twists his wrist under the dim cafe light. The seventy-third bar pulses twice, then goes steady. Same mark. Same date stamp, if he squints at the micro-etch only reapers can read.

Somebody's messing with his ledger.

He pulls out his phone, thumbs open the tracker app—the human-facing interface the council pretends is just a fitness monitor. The log shows two entries for the same guy. Same timestamp. Same location.