The following morning, Ananya walked into school with a calm face but a racing mind. She'd erased Vikram's CCTV control room, but she knew Genex wouldn't stop. They'd just get smarter.
During the first break, she headed straight to the computer lab. The rows of outdated desktops were empty, except for one corner where a boy with messy hair and a faded hoodie was hammering away at a keyboard.
He didn't look up as he said, "You really shouldn't use the school's Wi-Fi for covert packet tracing, Dr. Mehra."
She froze.
Only Vikram and her killers should know that name.
"Who are you?" she asked cautiously.
The boy leaned back, smirking.
"Name's Kabir. I was in the dark web chatrooms when your 'Consciousness Transfer' files first leaked. Everyone thought it was sci-fi garbage. I knew it wasn't."
She studied him. Mid-teen, maybe seventeen, but the way he navigated code screamed prodigy hacker.
"Why are you here? In this school?" she asked.
"Same reason you are—hiding from people who don't like questions. Difference is, I know how they watch." He tapped a key, and a feed popped up: Vikram, sitting in a black SUV outside the school right now.
Kabir turned serious.
"If you're going to survive, you'll need a partner. But first, you'll have to tell me the truth—how did you come back from the dead?"
Her fingers tightened on the back of the chair.
She had two choices: keep her secret and work alone… or take a dangerous leap of trust.
Before she could answer, the power in the computer lab flickered—and every monitor switched to a single screen.
A distorted voice crackled through the speakers: