Page 21 of Override

Then, “Define separate.”

“Independent.” I pick my word wisely.

“Skee.”

I tap twice against the desk, eyes moving over the estate map again. “I don’t trust the system anymore.”

“That’s because you trust literally nothing.” He sounds exhausted with me.

“That’s not relevant.”

“It’s extremely relevant.”

Normally I’d argue just to irritate him, but my attention catches on the upstairs hallway feed again. Empty now. Quiet. One small blinking camera watching nothing.

Except it wasn’t watching nothing earlier. It was watching Maeve disappear into the only room in the house where she could breathe. Something cold settles deeper beneath my ribs.

Callum’s voice sharpens slightly through the phone. “What aren’t you telling me?”

I lean back in the chair slowly. “I think Gallagher’s surveillance has less to do with external threats than he’s implying.”

A pause.

Then quieter, “Maeve?”

I hate that he got there that fast.

“Possibly.” I flick through some more screens already done with the conversation.

“What exactly are you seeing?” I can hear him move around and feel slightly bad I woke him up. But I can picture him heading to his office.

I glance toward the monitor again, replaying the footage in my head automatically. The hidden cameras. The movement patterns. The shrinking perimeter of privacy around her.

Nothing overt enough to explain cleanly. That’s the problem.

“Enough to want my own eyes inside the house,” I say finally.

Callum goes quiet again. Thinking now. Weighing. I know that silence. It’s the same silence Matt gets before a mission turns dangerous.

Finally Callum sighs. “Fine. Add secondary surveillance on Gallagher himself. Quietly.”

Already ahead of you. My fingers move across the keyboard automatically while another piece of code opens on screen.

“Okay,” I say. “I’ll let you know what I add to the house.”

Dead silence.Then—

“You’re doing what?” I almost smile. Callum’s chair scrapes loudly through the phone like he stood up too fast. “Absolutely not.”

I keep typing.

“You are not going into Ronan Gallagher’s house.”

“You just approved additional surveillance.” I remind him.

“I approved digital surveillance.”

“Mm.” I start typing in different codes.