The prisoner looks at the church again.
Then toward the mountains beyond town.
“The Architect believes the world is approaching a cascade failure.”
Adam’s voice drops slightly.
“Explain.”
“Power grids.”
“Supply chains.”
“Emergency response.”
“Communication infrastructure.”
He looks back at me.
“All fragile systems.”
I think about the map Wren showed us.
The nodes.
The response corridors.
The emergency networks.
“Sentinel started this,” I say.
The man nods.
“Yes.”
“Then the Architect finished it.”
“Yes.”
Russ rubs a hand across the back of his neck.
“So what’s the endgame?”
The prisoner’s smile returns.
“You still think this is about stopping something.”
Adam’s voice is quiet now.
“Isn’t it?”
“No.”
The man looks straight at me again.
“The Architect isn’t building an army.”
Then he says the line that makes the night suddenly feel colder.
