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This was dangerous territory. She was a client. She was dealing with a crisis. She'd be gone in a few weeks, either back to LA for filming or fleeing the wreckage of her career.

Either way, she'd leave Jasper Creek. Leave me here, still trying to figure out who Code Drakos was without the Army.

But for now, for tonight, I had a mission. Find the threat. Eliminate it. Protect Katherine Lord.

The rest could wait.

I pulled up the network logs and dove back in. Somewhere in this digital maze was the person who was trying to destroy her. And I was going to find them.

My phone buzzed again. Another text from Katherine.

KATHERINE: Thank you for tonight. For listening. For seeing me.

I stared at the message for a long moment. Then typed back.

CODE: Thank you for trusting me with the real you. Sleep well, Katherine.

Her response came fast.

KATHERINE: Thank you for trusting me too. Then: Sleep well, Code.

Just three words, but they hit harder than they should have.

I set the phone face-down on the desk and forced myself to focus on the screens. But her words echoed in my head, mixing with the memory of her laugh, the feeling of her hand in mine, the way she'd looked at me like I mattered.

Like the choices I'd made, the rules I'd bent, the career I'd sacrificed, all of it mattered because I'd done the right thing even when it cost me.

This case was getting complicated in ways that had nothing to do with malware or deepfakes.

And I was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, that wasn't entirely a bad thing.