In the heart of London – Surveillance at a glance…

Tess frowned. “That’s… odd.”
Emma leaned in. “What?”
Tess tapped the screen. “This isn’t encryption. It’s a shell. A fake OS. There’s nothing underneath it.”
Jake’s stomach dropped. “It’s empty.”
Tess nodded. “Completely. No data. No logs. No comms. No metadata. It’s a decoy.”
Emma whispered, “He gave us a blank phone.”
Tess’s expression darkened. “Not blank. Booby‑trapped.”
Jake stiffened. “How?”
Tess pointed at a blinking icon. “This device is broadcasting. A beacon. The moment you picked it up, it started transmitting your location.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “He’s tracking us.”
Tess shook her head. “Not just tracking. He’s triangulating.”
Jake felt the blood drain from his face. “He’s mapping MI5’s response teams.”
Emma whispered, “He’s watching us regroup.”
Tess swallowed. “Jake… Emma… this isn’t a trap.”
She turned the screen toward them.
A map of London.
Dozens of red dots.
MI5 vehicles. Tactical teams. Surveillance units.
All converging on the river.
Tess’s voice trembled.
“It’s an ambush.”
Jake grabbed the radio. “All units, this is Mercer — pull back! I repeat, pull back! The Architect is tracking your positions!”
Static.
Then Malik’s voice: “Mercer, what are you talking about? We’re securing the perimeter—”
Jake cut her off. “You’re walking into his kill zone!”
Emma pointed at the map. “Jake — look!”
The red dots began blinking.
One by one.
Tess’s eyes widened. “He’s activating something.”
Jake leaned over her shoulder. “What is it?”
Tess typed furiously. “I’m trying to intercept the signal but—”
The screen flashed.
A new icon appeared.
A skull.
Emma whispered, “Oh God.”
Tess’s voice cracked. “He’s triggering remote devices.”
Jake’s pulse hammered. “Explosives?”
Tess shook her head. “No. Something worse.”
The map zoomed out automatically — the phone was forcing the interface.
A new message appeared on the screen.
Emma’s breath caught. “Jake… he’s going citywide.”
Jake slammed his fist on the table. “We need to find him. Now.”
Tess pointed at the phone. “He left one clue. One real one.”
Jake looked at her sharply. “Where?”
Tess zoomed in on the device’s only non‑dummy file.
A single image.
A grainy CCTV still.
A street.
A sign.
A time stamp.
Emma’s eyes widened. “Jake… that’s King’s Cross.”
Jake grabbed his gear. “Then that’s where the trap leads.”
Emma followed. “And where we spring it.”
Tess called after them. “Be careful. He’s expecting you.”
Jake didn’t look back.
“That’s the point.”
King’s Cross Station was already heaving with early‑morning commuters when Jake and Emma arrived. Trains hissed, tannoy crackled, and the vast concourse buzzed with the restless energy of a city waking up.
But beneath the normality, something felt wrong.
Jake scanned the crowd. “He chose this place for a reason.”
Emma nodded. “High footfall. Multiple exits. CCTV blind spots. And enough noise to hide anything.”
They moved quickly, weaving through the tide of passengers. Emma kept her tablet close, tracking the last known signal from the Architect’s decoy phone.
“It pinged a relay here,” she said. “But the signal’s fragmented. He’s bouncing it off public Wi‑Fi nodes.”
Jake frowned. “He’s using the station’s infrastructure as camouflage.”
Emma’s voice tightened. “Which means he’s here. Or he was.”
Jake’s eyes swept the mezzanine, the platforms, the cafés, the luggage racks. Too many faces. Too many places to hide.
Emma stopped suddenly.
“Jake… look.”
A digital billboard flickered overhead.
Then glitched.
Then displayed a single line of text:
Jake’s pulse spiked. “He’s taunting us.”
Emma’s voice dropped. “No. He’s directing us.”
The billboard flickered again.
A new message appeared.
Jake checked his watch.
08:09.
Emma whispered, “Three minutes.”
Jake grabbed her arm. “Move.”