Chapter 3: Crossing Over
Kade spent the rest of the day in motion, the city’s pulse quickening as dusk crept in. He moved through hidden passageways and crowded bazaars, piecing together the equipment he’d need: a cloaking scrambler, forged ID chips, a slim stun baton disguised as an umbrella. Each item came from a different source—paranoia was survival.
The encrypted drive’s details flickered across his wrist display. Retrieval point: an apartment block deep in the AI zone. Time window: tight. The client’s warning replayed in his mind. Don’t be late.
He ducked into a ramen stall in a narrow alley, steam curling around him. From a table in the back, Sera watched him over the rim of her bowl. Her hair was shorter than he remembered, but her eyes were the same—unreadable, sharp.
“You need a route,” Sera said before he sat down. “A quiet one.”
Kade nodded. “And eyes on the patrol patterns.”
She slid a thin tablet across the table. “That’ll cost you.”
He managed a half-smile. “Didn’t know we were keeping score.”
“We always are.” She eyed him, searching for weakness. “This job’s different, Kade. The AI’s running new facial scans. Rumor is they’re looking for you.”
He forced down his worry, focusing on the map. Sera’s data was good—better than he’d expected. Back routes, service tunnels, blind spots in the cameras. The kind of knowledge only someone living on the knife’s edge possessed.
He handed her a roll of cred-chits. “This covers it.”
She shrugged, pocketing them. “You never ask why anymore.”
Kade stood. “I stopped needing reasons.”
Sera’s voice followed him out. “Watch your back. You’re not the only ghost in this city.”
Night fell heavy as Kade prepared. He changed clothes twice, checked his equipment three times. At the border of the AI zone, the wall shimmered with cold clarity—an invisible force humming beneath the glass.
He waited for a gap in the patrols, heart steady, mind blank. When the moment came, he slipped between two buildings, ducked into a maintenance tunnel, and found the hidden latch Sera had marked on the map.
A short, silent prayer to old ghosts. Then he pressed forward, moving under the glass, into the belly of the machine.
On the other side, the world changed. Streets gleamed, too clean. Cameras watched from every corner, drones glided overhead, their eyes unblinking.
Kade kept his head down, melted into the stream of workers in identical gray coats. His hands were steady, but his mind raced. One wrong move and he’d vanish—just another name erased from the free zone.
The city felt colder here. Every step was a risk. But Kade had crossed the line, and there was no turning back.