CHAPTER 2: THE NAME IN THE SYSTEM
CHAPTER 2: THE NAME IN THE SYSTEM
Richard ordered everyone out of the garage.
No one argued.
Within minutes, it was only him and the boy standing beside the supercar, its engine still humming like a heartbeat.
Richard crossed his arms. “Start talking. Now.”
The boy climbed onto the tire, sitting like he belonged there more than anywhere else.
“I didn’t fix it,” he said. “I just told it who I am.”
Richard frowned. “That doesn’t answer anything.”
The boy pointed at the dashboard. “That system inside your car. The encrypted control layer. It’s not standard. It’s military grade architecture.”
Richard went still.
“How do you know that?”
The boy looked at him for a long moment before answering.
“Because I built the first version when I was nine.”
A laugh almost escaped Richard’s throat, but it never came out.
The boy continued.
“They said I was too young to understand it. So they took my work, erased my name, and sold it through private contracts. Your car is just one of hundreds using a modified version.”
Richard’s expression tightened. “That’s impossible. The designer is a classified engineer. No one even knows his identity.”
The boy slid off the tire and stood directly in front of him.
“I do.”
A pause.
Then softly.
“Because I was him.”
The engine behind them suddenly revved on its own.
Not loudly.
May you like
But deliberately.
Like confirmation.
