The tension in the car was a physical weight, thick enough to choke. As they drove through the quiet streets of the neighborhood, the neon signs of the local shops blurred into streaks of amber and red. Donny sat in the back, his eyes fixed on the rearview mirror, meeting Lou's gaze.
Every time Donny tried to formulate a plan to tip them off, the Viper's Coil hissed. A warning prickle of electricity danced across his motor cortex, reminding him that his thoughts were no longer private property.
The Homefront: The Mask of the King
When they pulled into the driveway, Sarah was already on the porch. The relief on her face was a knife to Donny's heart. She sprinted down the steps, her heels clicking on the pavement, and threw her arms around him.
"Donny! My god, where were you?"
Donny winced—not from her touch, but from the sudden, sharp spike of the implant as Vance monitored his heart rate.
"Just a fugue, Sarah," Donny said, the lie tasting like ash. "The doctor... the news about the old injury. I just lost time. I'm sorry."
Sarah pulled back, her eyes—the eyes of a woman who had seen every trick in the book as a Senior Officer—searching his. "You're pale, Donny. And your pulse is racing." She reached up to touch his temple, her fingers grazing the hair that hid the fresh, microscopic incision.
Donny caught her wrist. It was too fast, too aggressive. The Coil surged—a 10% warning that made his vision go white for a split second. "I'm fine," he snapped, then immediately softened his voice. "I just need to sleep, Sarah. Please."
The Oversight: The Signal in the Static
While Sarah led Donny upstairs, Johnny didn't go home. He drove straight back to the Oversight office, his mind racing faster than his car.
He didn't look at security feeds this time. He looked at the Radio Frequency (RF) Spectrum for the 5th Street zip code. If someone was controlling a device inside a human body, they needed a specific bandwidth—something low-latency, something that could bypass standard interference.
"There," Johnny whispered to the empty room.
He found a "ghost" signal. It was a high-frequency, encrypted burst that pulsed every three seconds—exactly the rhythm of a human heartbeat. It was emanating from the 8th Street district, but it was being relayed through a satellite link that pinged back to a server in the Upstate Maximum Security region.
"You're not just in his head, Vance," Johnny growled, his fingers flying across the keys. "You're broadcasting. And every broadcast leaves a trail."
The Car's Secret: The Old Block Code
Upstairs, Donny lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Sarah was asleep beside him, her hand resting on his chest. Every time he tried to close his eyes, the "thrum" of the implant reminded him he was a prisoner.
Then he remembered. When Lou had helped him into the car, his hand had lingered on Donny's neck, but he had also slipped something into Donny's jacket pocket.
Donny waited until he was sure Sarah was deep in REM sleep. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, jagged piece of metal. It was a South Block Shunt—the same kind of crude, hand-filed tool they used to bypass the electronic locks on the old cell doors.
Attached to the metal was a tiny, handwritten note on a scrap of gym log paper:
"Don't talk. We know. The gym is 'Dark' at 0300. If you can't come, blink the porch light."
The Dilemma
Donny looked at the note, then at the camera he knew was hidden in the smoke detector. Vance was watching. If he moved toward the porch light, the Warden might see it as a signal. If he stayed still, Lou and Johnny might think he was truly gone.
But Donny was a King for a reason. He didn't blink the porch light. Instead, he began to breathe in a specific, rhythmic pattern—the Tactical Breath Sarah had taught him years ago to lower his heart rate.
He forced his pulse down, lower and lower, until the monitor in the warehouse would show him in a "Deep Sleep" state. Then, slowly, he moved his hand under the covers and tapped a message onto Sarah's thigh in
Morse code:
V-I-P-E-R I-N S-K-U-L-L.
The Coil didn't trigger. The AI monitoring his brain saw "Deep Sleep" and "Involuntary Muscle Twitch."
Sarah's eyes didn't open, but her breathing hitched. Just for a second. She had heard him.