Code Name: Untraceable

Chapter Twenty-Eight: You Blinked

"You blinked, Francesca."

Frankie stared at the screen, jaw clenched so tight she could feel it ticking beneath her skin.

No timestamp. No traceable metadata. Whoever this was, they were good. Better than good. And they were playing games now.

She didn't blink. Not when it counted.

But still... someone had seen her when she hadn't seen them.

She tapped a few keys, reactivating every motion sensor and pulling up thermal scans. Nothing. No movement outside. No anomalies. Everything clean.

Too clean.

Behind her, Bob shifted and mumbled something incoherent in his sleep. Frankie turned slightly, just enough to glance at him without softening.

He was curled on the couch like he belonged there.

She hated how easy that looked.

Frankie stood slowly, quiet, controlled. She moved through the bunker checking doors, weapon in hand-not paranoia. Routine. Practice. Survival.

She circled back to the main room and sat in front of the console again, typing commands faster than most people could read. Every surveillance angle. Every backup log.

Still nothing.

Then her eyes flicked back to the message.

"You blinked."

Not a threat.

A reminder.

They were ahead of her.

"No," she muttered under her breath. "You're just baiting me."

She looked at the screen one more time, then shut the monitor off.

She needed to think. To reset.

To-

"Frankie?"

Bob's voice was quiet. Rough from sleep. Still half-asleep.

She turned to see him sitting up, hair a mess, blanket slipping off his shoulders. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her like he could already tell something had changed.

"Everything okay?"

Frankie didn't answer right away.

She just looked at him.

At his bare feet on her floor. His hoodie bunched at the sleeves. The sleepy innocence of someone who still thought they had time to help.

Then she looked back at the blank screen.

"Yeah," she lied.

"Just a little tired."