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"Good." That almost-smile appeared. "I like a challenge."

We played for another hour. The competition got fierce, trash talk flying back and forth. But underneath was something else building between us. Every time our shoulders brushed. Every shared laugh. Every moment of comfortable silence.

Finally, I set down my controller and stretched. "I should get back to work. The malware won't trace itself."

"Right." Katherine stood. "I should go anyway. Angelica's probably wondering where I am."

I walked her downstairs to the Honda. The parking lot was empty except for our vehicles and the security lights creating pools of yellow against the dark.

"Kit?"

She turned back. I'd called her Kit, not Katherine. The distinction felt important somehow.

"Whatever's going on, whatever has you hiding here, we'll figure it out." I kept my hands in my pockets to stop myself from reaching for her. "You're under Jasper Creek's protection now. That means something here."

She looked like she wanted to say something profound, but her throat was too tight. I understood. Some things were too big for words.

"Drive safe," I said. "Text me when you get back to the Inn."

"You'll be here all night?"

"Probably."

"Code, you need to sleep."

"I'll sleep when I find the bastard who did this to you."

The fierce protectiveness in my own voice surprised me. When had her problem become my mission? When had Katherine Lord become someone I'd go to war for?

"Goodnight, Code."

"Goodnight, Katherine."

I watched her drive away, taillights disappearing down the empty street. Then I went back upstairs and dove into the code with renewed focus.

The malware pattern was starting to emerge. Whoever built this had military training, I was certain now. The structure was too clean, too efficient. And they'd used a custom encryption protocol that looked familiar.

I pulled up my old case files from Fort Gordon. Cross-referenced the encryption signature against known threat actors.

There.

A match. Not perfect, but close enough to narrow the suspect pool.

My phone buzzed. Text from Katherine.

KATHERINE: Made it back safe.

I typed back immediately. Good. Sleep well.

KATHERINE: You too. Eventually.

CODE: Eventually.

I set down my phone and stared at the screens. The case was coming together. Pieces falling into place. But my mind kept wandering back to Katherine on that couch, controller in hand, genuinely happy for the first time since I'd met her.

The way she'd opened up about her loneliness. The way she'd listened when I talked about Ukraine, really listened. The way she'd seen through my careful words to understand what I couldn't say directly.

The way her hand had felt in mine.