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CORPUS FELT LIKE a corpse. One that had been autopsied, buried, dug up and necrophiled. The smell in the room was horrid—grease and sweat and blood, overlaid with burnt hair and the sharp odor of piss. The Spider was gone for now. Off to hunt someone else maybe.
A code map was splayed out on the wall opposite from where Corpus was bound. Seeing it was part of his torture; the Spider wanted the hacker to watch each step the trace took along the web in finding his jack-in location. At least Corpus hadn’t given that up yet. He’d buckled on other things though. Secrets he thought might keep him alive, or at least drag this out longer until he was found. He’d confirmed he had the file. That Rama had asked him to hack it, but that he hadn’t unlocked it yet. He even told the Spider where he
