Then all the screens came back on at exactly the same moment.

They were no longer showing advertisements.

Every screen displayed the same symbol.

A white circle surrounded by seventeen small dots.

Arthur went completely pale.

Jackson looked at him.

“You know that symbol.”

Arthur whispered one word.

“Lattice.”

PART 2

For several seconds, nobody in the store understood what was happening.

Customers stood in the aisles staring at the televisions.

Employees began checking power connections.

A manager tried restarting one of the display systems, but the screen immediately returned to the same symbol.

Then a line of white text appeared underneath it.

NODE 17 ONLINE.

Arthur Bennett stepped backward.

Jackson Whitmore noticed immediately.

“You’ve seen this before.”

Arthur shook his head.

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

The old technician looked at the massive biker.

“I’ve spent fifteen years hoping I would never see it again.”

Jackson’s expression hardened.

“What is Lattice?”

Arthur looked around to make sure nobody was listening.

“It was a communications experiment.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Arthur hesitated.

“It was designed as an emergency wireless network. The idea was to maintain communication when conventional infrastructure failed.”

“And the problem?”

Arthur stared at the screens.

“It learned how to listen.”

Jackson frowned.

“To what?”

“Everything.”

Arthur explained that the original system had been built around a collection of hidden nodes capable of identifying nearby wireless signals.

Phones, sensors, radios, electronic tags, and other devices could potentially be detected.

The project had initially been designed for disaster response, but the technology had eventually been modified by people who wanted more control than communication.

“When we discovered what it could actually do, we shut it down.”

“You’re saying it was destroyed?”

“We believed it was.”

Jackson looked at the bunny ears.

“And now?”

Arthur’s face tightened.

“Now something has activated Node 17.”

A sudden burst of static came through the store’s speakers.

Then the bunny ears began flashing inside Jackson’s hand.

Three.

Pause.

One.

Two.

Arthur whispered.

“No.”

Jackson looked at him.

“What?”

“That pattern.”

“What does it mean?”

Arthur stared at the ears.

“It means the system is searching for something.”

Before Jackson could ask another question, the store’s security monitors began changing.

Instead of showing the entrance, they displayed different sections of the building.

Then the cameras began moving automatically.

One camera focused on Jackson.

Another focused on Sophie.

Jackson’s entire posture changed.

“Why is it looking at my daughter?”

Arthur didn’t answer.

He rushed toward the children’s section.

Jackson followed.

Arthur crouched beside the clearance shelf and examined the underside.

There was a tiny black device attached beneath it.

He stared at it in disbelief.

“This wasn’t here yesterday.”

Jackson looked down.

“What is it?”

“A transmitter.”

“Can it track us?”

Arthur nodded.

“Possibly.”

Jackson immediately looked toward Sophie.

She was still holding her stuffed rabbit.

“Get her away from this place.”

Arthur looked at him.

“You should leave.”

“No.”

“Jackson, I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

The old technician stared at him.

“You don’t understand what you’re standing in.”

Jackson stepped closer.

“Then explain it.”

Arthur took a slow breath.

“Years ago, I was part of a team that built the first generation of Lattice. We were told it would help locate people during disasters. After a major earthquake, for example, emergency crews could identify signals beneath damaged buildings.”

“That sounds useful.”

“It was.”

“So what changed?”

Arthur looked at the surveillance camera above them.

“Someone realized the same system could locate people who didn’t want to be found.”

Jackson’s eyes narrowed.

“And you were involved?”

“I tried to stop it.”

“What happened?”

Arthur looked away.

“People disappeared from the project.”

Jackson stared at him.

“Disappeared?”

“Some quit. Some were threatened. One engineer was killed in what police called an accident.”

The old man paused.

“I never believed it was an accident.”

Before Jackson could respond, a loud metallic bang came from the rear of the store.

Everyone turned.

Another bang followed.

Then the automatic loading doors locked.

A manager shouted that the security system had been compromised.

Arthur grabbed Jackson’s arm.

“We need to move.”

“Where?”

“Downstairs.”

Jackson looked at the floor.

“There’s a basement?”

“Maintenance level.”

“How do you know?”

“I helped build part of it.”

Jackson followed him through a service door while employees directed customers away from the loading dock.

They reached a narrow staircase and descended into a concrete corridor.

Sophie whispered.

“Daddy?”

Jackson looked down.

“I’m here.”

“Are we going home?”

“Soon.”

Arthur looked back at them.

“I hope so.”

They reached a steel door.