Chapter 31 · Dead Man's Database

The laptop screen is the only light in the room. Ivy's fingers are flying over the keys, pulling apart encrypted layers like she's done this a thousand times. Maybe she has. Cole wouldn't know. He's sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, watching her work, trying to remember why any of this matters.

His head hurts. Not the usual ache from too many resets. This is sharper. Like someone's scooping out pieces of him and he can't tell what's missing until he reaches for it.

"Got another folder," Ivy says. Her voice is tight. She's been at this for two hours. The safe house is cold. Snow keeps piling against the window. "It's... Cole, there's video files. Dates going back months."

He should care. He knows he should care. But the name on the folder she's pointing at doesn't mean anything to him. Loop Seventy-Nine. Loop Eighty. The numbers blur together.

"Play one," he says.

She clicks. The video loads. It's helmet cam footage. A firefight in a warehouse. Cole recognizes the layout. He's died there before. Twelve times? Fifteen? The merc on screen is moving fast, efficient, dropping hostiles with tight groupings. Good trigger discipline.