Page 421 of Black Reign

“It's him.”

I nod.

Then I find something else.

A dormant outbound channel waking right now.

I stare.

“He's watching.”

Senior steps forward.

“What?”

“This room.”

Xavier's entire body changes.

“How?”

“Not camera.”

I point.

“System state.”

Every time we request certain legacy data, something outside ARGUS is checking whether the sleeper credential has been exposed.

Glinchesvsky doesn't know exactly what we're doing.

He knows someone opened Papa's hidden audit layer.

And he's waiting.

I smile slowly.

Xavier sees it.

“What?”

“We don't shut it down.”

Senior says, “We kill it immediately.”

“No.”

“He knows we've found the key.”

“Yes.”

“Then every second⁠—”

“Is useful.”

I turn toward them.

“The hunters become the hunted.”