Chapter 6: Signal in the Shadows
The sun had barely set, but the Westside lot was already dim. Clouds had rolled in quickly, blocking the moonlight. The AI Apartment Block stood halfway complete—its solar windows glowing faintly, like quiet beacons in the dark.
Jaden stood on the second-floor scaffolding, staring at the system screen hovering in front of him.
Alert: External system scan detected. Unknown trace signal. Recommend caution.
He tapped the warning, but the screen wouldn’t show more. Just a red blinking icon at the top corner of his interface.
"Carl," Jaden called, climbing down to where the team was packing up for the night. "Something’s not right."
Carl looked up from his tablet. "What kind of not right?"
"My system’s picking up a trace scan. Someone’s trying to follow its signal."
Carl’s face tightened. "That’s not good."
Emma, who was checking the power lines, paused and walked over. "Could it just be background tech noise? You know how messy signal traffic gets around the city."
"No," Jaden said, shaking his head. "This one’s different. It’s targeted. Like someone is tracking the system itself."
Luke came running over, his small drone buzzing beside him.
"I just picked up something weird too," he said, pulling out his device. "Look at this—an encrypted frequency bouncing through relay towers in Sector 3. It pinged our location twice in the last hour."