Something about this situation feels wrong. Something just isn’t sitting right with me, and I’m not sure why, but if I want any kind of success, I’ve got to get out of here before things go too far.

“I’m sorry Tess, but I’ve got more digging to do. There’s still so much I don’t know, and I’ve got to get looking if I ever want to know just what the hell is going on here. Sorry to do this to you, but I’m a P.I. and I’m way too stubborn to just sit down and wait when I could be cracking this case wide open. I’m sure I’ll see you around, Tess.”

“Suit yourself,” she says with a cryptic little nod, and she seems to vanish into the shadows like a ghost in the fog. She’s a dangerous one, there’s no question about that.

There’s really only one place to go from here, and that’s straight to the top: the CyberCorp Headquarters building. If I want to learn anything, I’ll need to get in there.

As I travel through the city, I start to get the feeling that something is not right. Shadows where there should be none, silence when there should be sound. I’m beginning to get a bad feeling about this.

About five blocks from the CyberCorp pyramid, something moves on a rooftop above me. The shadows shift oddly, displacing the light in strange ways. The sounds don’t seem to fit the action quite right. I’ve been in the business long enough to know when someone is following me. I whirl around in the night, looking for any sign. Nothing. No one. Maybe time to try the overt route, then. “Come out you bastard!” I yell. “I know you’re following me!” Still no response, no more shadows, no out of place sounds. Whoever it is, this guy is good. “Come out here or so help me God, I will you fill you with so much lead –“

A voice interrupts me from the darkness. “We can’t have that, now can we?” It’s a male voice, familiar and yet . . . different. And then it hits me.

I know who it is . . .