Page 185 of Stay Scared

Rook gives a low laugh. “You think VANTA was dead?”

“I think Owen ignored it because it looked boring.”

“That was his mistake.”

The knife turns once through Rook’s fingers.

“He built an entire surveillance system and never understood the infrastructure beneath it.”

I say nothing.

Rook keeps going. “He watched cameras. I kept routes he could not see.”

I shift my weight. Rook catches it and closes his free hand around my upper arm again.

“You installed the bridges while nobody was here.”

“Some.”

His tone carries insult at the simplification.

“Some?” I repeat.

He leans closer. “I had months.”

Mark’s eyes lock on mine.

I let Rook hear doubt. “You expect anyone to believe you walked through Crimson Night for months without Ash noticing?”

The grip on my arm bites.

“I did not walk through his attraction.”

He taps the knife lightly against my side.

“I walked through mine.”

The words come faster now.

“The contractors carried VANTA into the new network. Service entrances stayed where I left them. Old mechanical runs remained behind new walls because removing them would have cost more money than Langston wanted to spend.”

Rook looks toward the camera.

“He built over me.”

The vanity is almost breathtaking. I give him enough silence to keep talking.

“The new locks still answered to old maintenance calls. The assignment boards still accepted imported schedules. Half his emergency procedures depended on systems he never bothered to understand.”

Mark’s thumb clears the cord. He hides it against the post.

I move half a step. Rook follows automatically. More of him enters the camera frame.

“You used Ash’s voice.”

The beak tilts. “They trusted it.”

A laugh catches beneath the mask.