Off Limits
"The twenty-four-hour lockdown protocol remains active. You will not leave the residential corridor without an armed escort."
She didn't answer.
The silence behind me stretched for five agonizing, heavy seconds before the soft scuff of her slippers signaled her departure. She walked away from the island, her long, slow strides carrying her back toward the deep shadows of her bedroom hallway until the heavy oak door of the guest suite clicked shut, leaving me entirely alone in the dim gray light of the Seattle dusk.
By 11:30 PM, the corporate sub-levels of Ambrose Tech had achieved total, hyper-focused isolation.