And in the end, my carefulness was the thing that took her plan apart, because I had done, quietly, on a jet-lagged afternoon, the one careful thing her whole reckless scheme could not survive: I had prepared.”

Chapter 15 — The Remote Access Protocol

Julian snorted, and took another heavy step forward, unimpressed.

“Close the laptop, sweetheart,” he said.

“You are not recording anything in here.

Your fancy little tech toys are not going to save you.”

“I am not recording, Julian,” I replied calmly, my fingers already moving across the keyboard with the quick certainty of a person doing something they have done a thousand times.

“I am executing a remote access protocol.”