Chapter 27 · The Man in the Loop

"You built it." Cade's voice came flat and cold from the doorway.

I didn't turn around. My hands were still on the keyboard, Nix's last decrypt burning across the screen. File name: ANCHOR_PROTOCOL_QUINN_M. Timestamp: three years ago. My signature at the bottom.

"No," I said.

"Your name's on it."

"I said no." I spun the chair. He had the gun out, not pointed at me but not exactly holstered either. "I fix drones. I don't build time loops."

"Then who did?" He stepped in and kicked the door shut. "Because that file says you wrote the core threading code. You want to tell me you forgot?"

I stood up. Fast. The chair hit the wall. "I didn't forget. I didn't do it."

"Mara."

"Don't." I grabbed the edge of the desk. My pulse was everywhere. "I would remember building the thing that's killing us nine minutes at a time."

He didn't move. Just watched me the way he'd watched every reset, every lie, every time I'd tried to run. Like he already knew the answer and was waiting for me to catch up.

"Unless you don't," he said quietly.

I froze.

"They could've scrubbed it," Cade said. "Partial wipe.