[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Jack, stop trying to force the door and look at the screen! She isn't just locked in there because she's scared. She’s locked in there because she’s working. Can’t you see the data throughput on the nursery’s internal line? It’s higher than the main server hub’s entire capacity!"

Sofia’s voice was a frantic whip-crack, cutting through the heavy thuds of Jack’s shoulder against the reinforced mahogany of the nursery door. She was huddled over a tablet she had snatched from the hallway console, her fingers trembling as she scrolled through the villa’s local network traffic. Her golden eyes, usually so sharp and calculating, were wide with a...