Ava’s POV:
The hand never reaches me.
Not because it stops but because something else interrupts it.
A sharp sound cuts through the room. Not loud. Precise. The kind of sound that doesn’t belong in a briefing room designed for quiet control. A door alarm. Short. Wrong.
Everyone freezes.
Daniel’s head snaps toward the screen wall. Dr. Morris looks up from her tablet for the first time. Margaret stiffens like she already knows what the alert means but refuses to acknowledge it.
The two men hesitate. Their hands hover inches from my arms.
“What is that?” I ask.
No one answers. Then the lights flicker once.
Not a blackout. A disruption. Enough to fracture the illusion that everything here is contained.
Daniel moves first. He turns toward the door, one hand already lifting to his earp
