NORA
Nora didn't touch the printout.
If she touched it, it became evidence.
If it became evidence, it became leverage.
And leverage was what Aldridge collected.
Only this time it wasn't Aldridge.
It was someone else.
Someone younger.
Someone hungry.
Someone with a hoodie and a smile.
Nora kept her hands flat on the table like she was waiting for a professor to hand out a syllabus.
Boring.
Clean.
She made her voice flat.
"Daniel," she said, "who sent you that."
Daniel's throat moved.
He looked like he was trying not to cry.
"I don't know his name," Daniel whispered. "He said he was helping. He said Aldridge wanted to make sure… things stayed fair."
Fair.
Nora almost laughed.
Fair was the word people used when they wanted you to surrender.
Ethan's voice cut in, calm.
"What did he ask you for," Ethan said.
Daniel blinked.
"I told you," he said, voice shaking. "Her password. He said he could get into her notes app. I said no. I swear I said no."
Nora studied Daniel's face.
Soft people loved believing.
Nora did not love believing.
But she could tell when someone was afraid of the right thing.
Daniel was afraid of being used.
That was real.
Nora's voice stayed flat.
"Did he show you more," she asked.
Daniel nodded.
He swallowed hard.
"He showed me Ethan's draft," Daniel whispered. "He said he could get copies of everything. He said… he said Aldridge didn't have to know."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
Not visible.
But Nora felt it.
That was the new part.
A runner not loyal.
A runner selling.
A runner playing both sides.
Nora's stomach tightened.
"Why tell us," Nora asked.
Daniel's eyes filled.
"Because," he whispered, "I think he's going to use me next."
Priya's line echoed in Nora's head.
Useful.
Daniel was useful.
And that meant Daniel was in danger.
Marcus shifted beside Ethan, trying to look casual.
He failed.
His voice came out low.
"So what," Marcus murmured. "We… report him."
Report.
To who.
Aldridge.
The dean.
Campus security.
Words that sounded like help and felt like a maze.
Ethan's voice stayed calm.
"We don't move without witnesses," Ethan said.
Nora nodded once.
"Visibility," Nora said.
Daniel blinked.
"You want me to go to someone," he whispered.
Nora's eyes stayed steady.
"I want you to stop meeting people alone," Nora said.
Daniel flinched.
"I didn't," he said quickly. "He just… he showed up."
Nora nodded.
"That's the point," she said. "He's showing you location doesn't matter."
Daniel's breathing quickened.
Nora leaned forward a fraction.
Not intimate.
Not secret.
Just enough.
"Listen," Nora said. "If he contacts you again, you don't answer in private. You don't go to back stairwells. You don't go to empty rooms. You stay where people can see you."
Daniel swallowed.
"And if he makes it public," Daniel whispered.
Nora's mouth tightened.
"If he makes it public," Nora said, "we control narrative."
Marcus frowned.
"What does that mean," he asked.
Priya's voice wasn't here to translate.
So Nora did.
"It means," Nora said, "we decide what story the campus hears first."
Ethan's eyes held hers.
He understood.
Not because he liked it.
Because he could do it.
Ethan's voice was low.
"Tell me what you want," Ethan said.
Nora stared at the printout.
IF YOU DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD, WE WILL.
A threat.
A deadline.
A demand for performance.
Nora's pulse slowed.
Not because she was calm.
Because she was choosing.
She looked at Daniel.
"When he said he could make it public," Nora asked, "did he say where."
Daniel hesitated.
Then he nodded.
"The writing club," Daniel whispered. "Slack. The forum. He said he could post it like a leak. Anonymous. He said everyone would share it."
Nora felt cold spread in her chest.
Because that wasn't just embarrassment.
That was disqualification.
That was scholarship.
That was her mother.
Rent.
Food.
A life.
Ethan's voice stayed calm.
"He wants payment," Ethan said.
Nora looked at him.
"What," she said.
Ethan pointed at the printout.
"This is leverage," Ethan said. "Leverage is always priced."
Nora's stomach tightened.
"What price," Nora asked.
Daniel's lips parted.
He looked like he didn't want to say it.
But Nora's face didn't give him a choice.
Daniel whispered, "He said… he said you could buy your silence."
Marcus blinked.
"Buy," he repeated.
Daniel nodded.
"He said two hundred," Daniel whispered. "Two hundred dollars. For the screenshots. For him to stop."
Nora's stomach dropped.
Two hundred.
It wasn't a lot for Ethan.
It was everything for Nora.
It was groceries.
It was rent.
It was her mother's electric bill.
It was humiliation measured in cash.
Ethan's eyes went cold.
"That's extortion," Ethan said.
Nora's mouth tightened.
"No," Nora said. "That's a test."
Marcus frowned.
"A test," he echoed.
Nora nodded.
"If we pay," Nora said, "we admit it matters. If we don't, he posts."
Daniel's voice broke.
"He said he'd post tonight," Daniel whispered. "He said… he said he likes to hear her say it out loud, but if she won't, he'll let the campus say it for her."
Nora's throat tightened.
The phrase.
Like a brand.
Like contamination.
Ethan's hand tightened on the edge of the table.
Then loosened.
Boring.
Clean.
He asked, calm, "Did he give you a way to contact him."
Daniel nodded.
He fumbled his phone out.
He showed them a burner number.
A text thread.
One line.
PAY OR POST.
Nora stared.
No greeting.
No charm.
Just demand.
Marcus's voice was small.
"We can just… give him two hundred," he whispered.
Ethan's eyes flicked to Marcus.
Marcus held up his hands.
"I'm not saying it's right," Marcus said. "I'm saying… I have two hundred. I can—"
Nora cut him off.
"No," she said.
Marcus blinked.
Nora's voice stayed flat.
"If you pay," she said, "he comes back. He raises the price. He owns you."
Marcus swallowed.
Ethan nodded.
Nora looked at Daniel.
"Can you get him to meet," Nora asked.
Daniel's eyes widened.
"Meet," he whispered.
Nora nodded.
"In public," she said. "With witnesses."
Daniel shook his head fast.
"He said no witnesses," Daniel whispered.
Nora's mouth tightened.
"Then you tell him yes," Nora said.
Daniel stared.
"That's—" he began.
"A script," Nora finished.
Daniel flinched.
Nora leaned forward, voice low.
"You tell him you're scared," Nora said. "You tell him you want to pay. You tell him you need to hand it off where you feel safe."
Daniel swallowed.
"And if he refuses," Daniel whispered.
Nora's eyes stayed steady.
"Then he posts," Nora said. "And we move first."
Ethan's gaze sharpened.
"Move first how," he asked.
Nora exhaled.
This was the part she hated.
This was the part that felt like losing.
"We leak our own story," Nora said.
Marcus blinked.
"Like… confess," he whispered.
Nora's mouth went cold.
"No," she said. "Not confess. Control. We release a boring version that makes his screenshots look staged."
Ethan's eyes held hers.
"And the page," Ethan asked quietly.
Nora's throat tightened.
Her poem.
Her body.
Her want.
Nora's voice stayed flat.
"We make it about craft," she said. "We make it about stress. We make it about scholarship stakes. We make it… normal."
Normal.
A word that felt like a lie.
Daniel looked like he might vomit.
"I can't," he whispered.
Nora's eyes didn't soften.
"You can," she said. "Because you're already in it."
Daniel swallowed.
He nodded.
Small.
Terrified.
"Yes," he whispered.
Ethan leaned back.
His voice was calm.
"We need Priya," Ethan said.
Nora nodded.
And Maren.
And a dean's assistant.
And anyone who made this a room, not a trap.
Nora opened the shared notes file.
She typed one line.
Runner is extorting. Deadline tonight. Need Priya + Maren now.
She hit save.
Then she looked at Ethan.
Her voice was flat.
"If he posts," she said, "I want it to hurt him."
Ethan's eyes went dark.
"It will," he said.
Nora didn't believe in promises.
But she believed in strategy.
Daniel's phone buzzed.
All four of them went still.
Daniel's eyes widened.
He looked down.
Then up.
His voice shook.
"He replied," Daniel whispered.
Nora's stomach tightened.
"What did he say," Nora asked.
Daniel swallowed.
He turned the screen so they could see.
One line.
MIDNIGHT. BASEMENT. ALONE.
Ethan's jaw clenched.
Nora's pulse slowed.
Not calm.
Choice.
She looked at Ethan.
Then at Marcus.
Then at Daniel.
Her voice was flat as paper.
"No," Nora said.
And then she smiled.
Small.
Controlled.
"We're bringing witnesses," she said. "And if he doesn't show, we post first."
Marcus swallowed.
"Post what," he asked.
Nora's eyes stayed steady.
"The boring version," she said. "The one that makes his leak look like fanfiction."
Daniel's breathing went fast.
He looked like he wanted to run.
Nora didn't let him.
"You're going to message him back," Nora said.
Daniel blinked.
"What," he whispered.
Nora's voice stayed low.
"You'll say you're coming," she said. "You'll say you're alone. You'll say you're scared."
Daniel swallowed.
"And if he asks about the money," Daniel whispered.
Nora's mouth tightened.
"You say you have it," Nora said.
Ethan's eyes flicked.
A question.
Nora met it.
Not now.
Later.
Threads.
Marcus's voice came out rough.
"Do we actually have it," he asked.
Nora didn't answer immediately.
Answering felt like admitting the number mattered.
Finally she said, flat, "We can."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
He knew what she meant.
He could pay.
He could cover it.
But money came with a story.
And Nora hated stories that made her a charity case.
Nora stood.
She didn't rush.
Rushing was a tell.
"We're leaving," she said.
Daniel flinched.
"Where," he asked.
Nora's voice stayed even.
"To find Priya," she said. "To find Maren. To make this a room full of eyes."
Marcus pushed his chair back.
"We're just… going to walk up to the dean's assistant and say 'hey, there's a blackmail hoodie guy,'" he murmured.
Nora looked at him.
"Yes," she said.
Marcus blinked.
Nora's mouth tightened.
"We say it boring," she added. "We say it like paperwork. We say it like something that will be logged."
Ethan stood too.
His voice was calm.
"And we don't go to the basement," he said.
Nora nodded.
"We don't go," she agreed.
She picked up her notebook.
Training log still on top.
Boring.
Clean.
They walked out of the reading room together.
No back stairwell.
No empty hallway.
Main corridor.
Lights.
People.
Marcus talked the whole way, on purpose.
"Okay," he murmured, "this is insane, but I'm in it. I'm in the plot. My mom warned me about English majors and here we are."
Nora didn't smile.
She didn't laugh.
But her shoulders loosened by a fraction.
Outside, the sky had darkened.
Rain threatened.
A storm gathering without commitment.
Nora checked the time.
Five hours until midnight.
Five hours until a leak.
Five hours until Aldridge could pretend he didn't know.
Nora opened the shared notes file again.
One new line appeared.
From Priya.
Maren wants names. She's asking who the runner is.
Nora's stomach tightened.
Names.
Out loud.
Always.
Ethan read over her shoulder.
His voice was low.
"We give her Cal," he said.
Nora shook her head.
"Cal isn't real," she said.
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
"Then we give her the hoodie," Ethan said. "We give her the coffee sleeve. We give her the time and place."
Nora's mouth tightened.
Process.
Evidence.
Boring truth.
Not blood.
Daniel's phone buzzed again.
He looked down.
Then up.
His face went pale.
"What," Nora asked.
Daniel's voice shook.
"He sent a photo," Daniel whispered.
Nora's stomach dropped.
"Show me," she said.
Daniel held up the phone.
A photo.
A close-up.
A lock screen.
Nora's lock screen.
Her wallpaper.
A corner of her thumb in the frame.
And at the bottom, typed over the image in white letters:
I CAN GET IN WITHOUT YOU.