Russ shook his head. “Why?”
“Because that’s when people make mistakes,” I said. “When their mind is active but their body is trapped.”
I stepped back from the table and started pacing.
Scout Fallon hadn’t screamed.
Hadn’t begged.
Hadn’t resisted in ways Sentinel could punish.
So he’d shifted to something worse.
“He’s trying to see how far she’ll bend before she breaks,” I said. “And how much damage she’ll absorb before she pushes back.”
Boone looked up. “You think she will?”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation.
Because people like Scout didn’t survive by folding.
They survived by choosingwhento act.
I stopped pacing and met their gazes.
“He thinks he’s in control now,” I said. “That means he’s about to overreach.”
Russ tilted his head. “And you?”
I felt it then—that quiet certainty. The same one Scout must’ve felt when she touched that wall.
“I just felt the board shift,” I said. “And when Sentinel feels confident, he leaves fingerprints.”
I leaned over the table again, eyes sharp. My mind thinking back on everything Raine has told me about Scout Fallon.
“She’s still alive,” I said. “Still thinking. And she’s about to do something that forces my hand.”
Boone’s console chimed—soft, urgent.
“Logan,” he said. “We just got a delayed internal echo. Not a location—more like… a logic trace.”
I looked at the screen.
A pattern.
Familiar.
My pulse steadied.
There you are, Scout, I thought.
Sentinel thinks he’s testing you.
What he doesn’t realize—
Is that you just warned me.
And whatever comes next?
