The extraction didn't behave like normal software. Instead of a progress window, his monitors began to flicker. The fans in his liquid-cooled rig roared to life, screaming at maximum RPM. On his secondary screen, a command prompt scrolled at a speed the human eye couldn't follow.

"Don't do it, El," a voice crackled through his headset. It was Sarah, his remote tech support and the only person he trusted. "I ran a trace on that build number. 9534533 isn't a version. It's a coordinate. Specifically, a deep-sea trench in the North Atlantic." Elias ignored her. He right-clicked and hit Extract .

"El, your power draw is spiking!" Sarah yelled. "Your local grid is redlining. Shut it down!"

Outside his window, the city skyline went dark, one block at a time. The Wolfpack had finished its build.

Small, red triangles began to appear at the edges of the map. They moved with predatory grace, converging on the amber lines. As each red triangle touched a digital asset, Sarah’s voice turned into static.

He downloaded it over a shielded fiber line, his pulse thumping against his ribs. The file was massive, nearly four terabytes. When the progress bar hit 100%, he moved his cursor over the icon.