Chapter 17 · Death Line Echo

"Stop digging, Kai. You’re going to fry your brain before we even hit the second floor," Lilith snapped, her voice cutting through the static in my head.

I didn't stop. I couldn't. My fingers were flying across the holographic interface, the blue light bathing the cramped safehouse in a sickly, digital glow. The Reaper Plugin was screaming. Not a sound, but a vibration that rattled my teeth, a jagged frequency that told me I was touching something I wasn't supposed to see.

"Just one more layer," I grunted. "The encryption is folding. I can see the ghost-logs. Lilith, there are files here with my own biometric signature from ten years ago. I wasn't even a runner then. Who the hell was I?"

Lilith stepped closer, her presence a cold weight behind me. I could smell her perfume—something sharp, like ozone and expensive rain. She didn't sound convinced. She sounded bored, which was usually when she was most dangerous.

"You were a nobody. That's why you're useful," she said. Her hand brushed my shoulder, a light touch that felt like a warning. "Close the link. Now."

"I'm almost in," I hissed, ignoring her.

Suddenly, the Reaper Plugin didn't just scream—it shrieked.