He tried to delete it. “Access denied. File in use by: [REDACTED].”

It was 2:47 a.m. in his Minsk apartment. The rain outside synced with the static crackle of his old headphones. He double-clicked.

The front door’s chain rattled. Not violently. Patiently. Alexei looked at the file again. The .rar icon had changed—no longer an archive, but an eye. Blinking.