"77"

Day 1 Name#1:wallace M. Griggs Cause of Death: fire. Message:"1 down. 76 to go " The city always slept with one eye open , but tonight, something had changed . At exactly 2:30a.m.. the livestream began _no warning , no platform, no trace. just a cracked screen, flickering static, and then... a figure. Tall. Still. Dressed in black from head to toe. The mask was homemade _stitched leather , one eyehole torn larger than the other . behind them, a broken television crackled with static, casting a sickly strobe over the room. The voice was scrambled, but the message was clear. "wallace M. Griggs.Guilty. fire for fire. 1 down. 76 to go." Then the screen went blank. By 6:12 a.m.., Wallace Griggs former federal judge, decorated ,wealthy, untouchable _was found burned alive in his penthouse,the only room scorched, the security footage wiped clean. They ruled it arson. But there were no signs of forced entry. No prints. just a note: "Echelon _ 77 remembers " ***** Detective Arielle knox was not assigned to the case. Technically, she wasn't even cleared for homicide anymore.after her breakdown last year -after what happened with the Ross case _ she'd been quietly pushed into cybercrime, buried behind screens and coffee cups, left to rot. But someone had slipped the video to her. No note. No sender. Just a USB drive in a plain envelope on her desk . she watched the video once. then again. then she turned off the lights, locked the door, and watched it ten more times in the dark. There was something... familiar about the way the masked figure stood. Something about the pause after they said the name. As if it wasn't just a name on a list _it was personal. She paused the video. Zoomed in. In the corner of the screen,taped to the wall , was a piece of paper. Faded, but visible. A number of list. 1 to 77. she enhanced the fram, she couldn't make out most names. just a few. #1: Wallace M. Griggs. #11: David S. Brinker #27: Julia knox. #45: Arielle knox. Her breath caught in her throat. She zoomed in again. But it was there. Her name. Her mother's. Two generation. one list. She hadn't seen her mother's name in years. Not since the files were sealed . Not since the accident. Not since .... Arielle reached for the envelope the USB came in. plain, white, but on the back was a stamp: Property of project Echelon 77 Classified _Terminated 1977 She had only ever heard that phrase once. From her grandmother. In a whisper. " Room 77 was never meant to be opened again". The screen behind her buzzed again . New upload detected: Name #2. The list was real. the countdown had begun. And Arielle had 76 days to remember the past _ before it killed her.