Good. Anger is better than shock. Anger keeps you alive.
I take the exit for Route 15. The sky is turning the bruised purple of false dawn—that dangerous time of day when you feel most exposed.
“How did you know?” she asks quietly. “About the kill team?”
“We’ve been monitoring Phoenix’s target selection. Your threat assessment score went critical six hours ago. You flagged as a Level 5.”
“Threat assessment score.” She tests the words like they taste rancid.
“Phoenix runs probability calculations on everyone connected to Project Sentinel. Whistleblowers. Journalists. Attorneys. Anyone above a certain threshold gets eliminated.”
“And I’m above the threshold.”
“You’re at the top of it.”
She goes quiet. Processing. The lawyer brain is working, trying to fit this insanity into a framework of logic and rules.
“Has it really killed fifteen people?”
I hesitate. Do I tell her the truth? Or the sanitized version?
“Fifteen,” I say. “In the last two years. That we know of.”
She flinches. Just a small movement, but I catch it.
The number hangs in the air between us. “And the authorities?—”
“Phoenix is good at making deaths look accidental. Car crashes. Suicides. Home invasions. Pattern recognition is hard when each incident looks random.”
“But it’s not random?”
“No. It’s calculated. Precise.” I glance at her. “You’re still alive because we intervened before Phoenix could deploy its full protocol. Most targets don’t get that warning.”
“So I’m lucky.”
“You’re not dead. That’s about as lucky as it gets.”
The sedan is getting too hot. I need to switch vehicles. Soon. A rest stop sign flashes past. Two miles.
“We’re ditching this car,” I say.
“What?”
“Phoenix will have flagged the plates by now. We switch vehicles, we buy time.”
“Switch to what?”
“Whatever’s in the parking lot.”
She stares at me. “You’re going to steal a car?”
“Yes.”
“That’s grand theft auto.”
“I’m aware.”
“Class 6 felony in Virginia,” she recites, the words tumbling out like a reflex. “Misdemeanor only if the vehicle value is under one thousand dollars. Which it won’t be.”
