When it asks for an invite key, enter: HOLLOW-STATIC-7.
Notifications off. Read receipts off.
Burn this after.
I turned the page over. No signature, no name, nothing.
What the fuck?
I navigated to the link, but it didn’t provide much more information besides indicating it was some kind of secure, heavily encrypted messaging app.
This had to be a scam, right? What else could it be? Who could possibly need to talk to me via an encrypted chat?
Everyone I knew could shoot me a normal fucking text. I didn’t know anyone who used encrypted whatever the fuck it was.
Unless…
Hedidhave a Russian accent.
I stopped in my tracks, rooted to the spot so firmly even Princess had to comply, for once.
No, that was preposterous. It was ludicrous to even consider.
I read the printed words again, trying to find anything to either confirm or dispel my suspicions.
The strange man was long gone, but I still found myself glancing over my shoulder once more, just to be sure.
Ugh. I almost wished he stayed so I could’ve asked him more questions. He didn’t seem very forthcoming with answers, but at least I wouldn’t be standing alone in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a massive fur ball to direct my thoughts at.
Alone again. I set off in Princess’s wake once more. She looked as though she had had enough of my antics for the day.
After reading the note a third time, I slid it back into my pocket. Princess conveniently decided she had enough of the beach and dragged me back toward her home. My brows were set in a permanent furrow as I retraced my steps.
Of course, I wouldn’t do it. There were so many reasons why I shouldn’t even think about doing it. Like … well, they’d come to me eventually.
But … if I didn’t do it, I’d never find out whohewas. My eyebrows furrowed. I couldn’t bear the thought of living without that knowledge; I had to find out whether there was any truth to my suspicion.
I snorted at the thought and at my pitiful attempt to fool myself into believing this was merely a suspicion. Was there really any doubt as to who these instructions were from? Who else would have a reason but Sasha.
I didn’t know whether to be impressed or scared by this display of power. How far did his reach extend? He found me, had the means to get this message delivered to me, and was somehow outmaneuvering the system.
Had he always had the means to contact me outside of the system? And if so, why had he waited until now? Because he finally trusted me? Or because I had pushed him too far?
I could tell myself Ishouldn’tdo it until the world stopped fucking spinning but I might as well stop lying to myself.
After dropping Princess off at her house — my right arm was probably now at least an inch longer than the other from all her pulling on the leash — I hurried home.
Pulling my phone and the note out, I followed the instructions and entered the private chatroom, staring at the blinking cursor.
Guess I was the cat after all, and the only real question to ask was how many lives I had left.
Chapter 15
Sasha
Iknewsomethingwasamissbefore I even answered the phone. Nothing had visibly gone wrong but the timing was off. I pulled the phone out of its hiding place and answered it, already feeling a tightening in my chest in anticipation.
It was unusual for my men on the outside to call me without having been contacted first.