Page 116 of Stay Scared

I press STOP LIVE FEED.

The green indicator dies, and the monitor goes black.

Owen looks at the dark screen, then at me.

The extraction window sounds a quiet tone.

VERIFIED EXTRACTION COMPLETE.

The theater plans appear on the tablet.

Mark is still upright on the adjoining feed.

The countdown reads 03:26:51.

Owen is already moving toward the terminal. “The original service stair behind the west wall reaches the projection basement. Rook’s barrier is above it.”

Exactly what we were waiting for.

I pick up the tablet as the rear archive door opens. Cade comes through first, with Ash behind him.

Cade stops. He looks at me, then Owen, then my jacket, my mouth, and Owen’s shirt still twisted where I held it.

He knows enough.

Ash enters more slowly. His attention lands on the dark tripod, then Owen, then me. He lingers on me longer than Cade did.

Owen shifts between Ash and the terminal without quite blocking either of us. The movement is subtle.

Ash catches it. His expression cools.

“The extraction finished,” I say. “We have the original theater route.”

Ash comes closer. Owen holds his position until I lift the tablet myself.

Ash looks down at my hand around it. “You transferred camera authority.”

“I did.”

His attention cuts toward Owen.

Owen meets it. “She owns the local layer now.”

Ash looks back at me. Whatever response he has stays behind his teeth.

“Show me the route.”

Before I can turn the tablet, a second monitor activates across the room. It is disconnected from the server racks, and its power cable hangs loose beneath the desk.

Static tears across the dead display. Every eye in the room snaps toward it.

The screen goes black.

White letters appear.

I STILL SAW YOU.

Chapter 16