The Roman night was a masterpiece of cold marble and indifferent stars, but for Lila Laurent, the world had dissolved into a digital nightmare of crimson and chrome.
"Initialization complete," the voice whispered. It didn't come from the air, and it didn't come from Julian Vane’s smirking lips. It came from the base of her own brain, a cold, synthetic pulse that bypassed her soul and seized her nerves like a puppeteer snatching up a set of tangled strings.
*Subject 0412. Target: Ethan Blackwood. Eliminate.*
Lila’s right hand moved. It wasn't a fluid, human motion. It was the mechanical snap of a pre-programmed reflex. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt of the tactical knife at Ethan’s belt. The cold steel felt like an extension of the virus, a sharp tooth ready to bite the only man wh
