The Architect’s gaze moves slowly across the group.
Then back to Wren.
“Someone far more dangerous than I am.”
The highway goes very still.
Even the wind seems to pause.
Cyclone steps forward slightly.
“Stop playing games.”
The Architect glances at Wren.
Boone shifts slightly beside her.
But Wren doesn’t move.
“Who is the second command?” she asks.
The Architect studies her calmly.
“Sentinel always believed the system would outlive him.”
“That someone would inherit it.”
“And someone did.”
Wren’s stomach tightens.
“No.”
The Architect watches her reaction with quiet interest.
“Yes.”
“Sentinel built a successor.”
Adam frowns.
“That’s impossible.”
“Nothing Sentinel built was simple.”
Wren’s mind races.
Signal patterns.
Encryption styles.
Command routing.
The second signal wasn’t just similar to Sentinel’s architecture—
ItwasSentinel’s architecture.
“Someone inside the system,” she whispers.
