CHAPTER 029: CONTROLLED EXPOSURE
"Phase One complete means Phase Two starts."
I set my phone face down on the desk.
"We need to get ahead of it," I continue. "Not keep reacting to it."
Dominic's eyes stay on the screen where the filename still glows faintly in the dark.
"What are you thinking?" he asks quietly.
I pull up the platform architecture and start opening layered system maps.
"I'm thinking we stop waiting for them to show us things," I say, "and start showing them something instead."
His gaze sharpens immediately. "Explain."
"I create a controlled vulnerability," I say. "Something valuable enough that they'll want access to it, but contained enough that I can monitor every movement they make inside it."
"A trap inside your own system."
"A monitored entry point," I correct automatically. "They've been studying us. Fine." I begin mapping the framework. "Let them study something I built specifically for them to find."
