X's first order arrived at dawn through an encrypted message that burned itself after I read it.
*Target: Director Sarah Chen. Location: Federal Building, Office 847. Deadline: 6 hours. Method: Quantum dissolution. Make it look like natural phase-shift failure. Evidence of my involvement cannot exist. Fail and Samuel dies. Succeed and he lives another week. The clock starts now.*
I stared at the ashes where the message had been. X wanted me to kill Chen. The one federal agent actually trying to stop him. The one person with resources to investigate Project Blackstone properly.
Of course he did.
"You are not doing this," Antonio said, reading over my shoulder before the message dissolved.
"I have to. Samuel—"
"Samuel would rather die than watch you become a murderer for X." Antonio gr
