Chapter 24 · Ghost Signal - Chapter 24: Her Name on the Order

The signature sits at the bottom of the file like a burn mark.

Zero-Seven's root key.

I don't move. The screen floats in my visual overlay, that string of code just sitting there, clean and obvious. Qin had this file locked in his head when someone else was driving him. And the key that opens it? Zero's.

My hand's already halfway to the neural jack behind my ear.

"Lin."

I freeze. Zero's voice comes through the link, quiet. Not her usual smooth operator tone. Just my name.

"Don't."

"You want to tell me why your root key is all over a kill file?" My voice comes out flat. I'm past anger. Anger was two chapters ago. This is the part where I cut my losses.

"I can explain."

"Yeah." I tap the jack. The metal's warm under my fingertips. "I bet you can."

"Lin, please—"

"How long?" I don't pull it yet. I want to hear her say it. "How long have you been playing me?"

Silence on the link. The kind that means she's calculating. I hate that I can tell the difference now between her thinking and her stalling.

"Since the start," Zero finally says.

There it is.