Chapter 27 · Whispers of a Digital Ghost

"Don't touch the console." Lilith's hand closed around my wrist before my fingers reached the upgrade port. Her grip was warm, hard, and entirely too confident. "You plug that thing into your skull, Kai, and I won't be able to pull you back out."

"Then stop holding me like you're afraid I'll run."

Her eyes narrowed. The emergency lights had died three minutes ago, leaving the command room black except for the thin blue lines crawling across the dead screens. I could feel her standing inches away. Her breath brushed my cheek when she leaned closer.

"I'm holding you because you keep trying to kill yourself."

"That's rich coming from the woman who dragged me through a security gate with six rifles pointed at my head."

"You survived."

"Barely."

"Barely still counts."

I twisted against her grip. She shoved my wrist against the console, pinning me there. Metal pressed into my palm. Somewhere behind us, a cooling fan clicked and stopped.

The room went completely silent.

Then Doc's message played again.

"Kai, if you're hearing this, the Reaper Plugin has already found the root partition. Do not install another upgrade. Do not trust the system's identity files.