Monday morning arrived with the deceptive calm of a predator lying in wait. The campus was buried under a fresh layer of snow, the white blanket hiding the grime of the city, much like the press releases from Vanguard were hiding the corporate bloodbath happening behind closed doors.
I walked to my 8:00 AM lecture, my breath misting in the cold air. To anyone watching, I was just Jake Hart, scholarship student, invisible nobody. But beneath the cheap parka, I was wearing a suit that cost more than my tuition, and in my pocket was a phone that connected me to two of the most powerful women in the city.
The System hummed in the back of my mind, a constant, low-level vibration.
[Status: Active]
[Current Objective: Dismantle Richard Sterling]
[Time Remaining: 89 Days, 23 Hours]
Three months. It felt like a lifetime, and yet, not nearly enough.
