Kai didn't sleep.
He sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, eyes fixed on the object resting on the table across the room. The device hadn't moved since he dropped it there after Chapter 20, but its presence dominated the space. Small. Silent. Controlled.
That was the problem.
If it were loud, if it blinked or buzzed constantly, he could treat it like a threat. Instead, it waited. Like whoever built it expected him to make the next move.
Kai stood and crossed the room. He picked it up, turned it over in his palm. No markings. No serial number. No seams he could pry open without damaging it. Whoever designed it didn't expect recovery. They expected obedience.
"Bad assumption," Kai said quietly.
He powered on his laptop and connected a secondary phone—one he didn't normally use. No personal data. No accounts. He placed the device beside it and started recording everything: signal fluctuations, micro-vibrations, temperature changes.
Ten minutes passed. Nothing.
He adjusted the setup. Changed positions. Still nothing.
That confirmed one thing: the device wasn't reacting to proximity alone. It was reacting to behavior.
Kai leaned back in his chair. "So you're watching patterns, not location."
He made a deliberate choice. He picked up his keys.
---
The hallway outside his apartment was empty. He locked the door and stood still for five full seconds. The device remained inert.
Then he walked.
Not fast. Not cautious. Normal pace. Down the stairs, past two neighbors, out the front door. He stopped again.
Still nothing.
Kai frowned. "Alright. Let's escalate."
He turned left instead of his usual route. Changed direction twice. Entered a convenience store, bought nothing, left. The moment he stepped back outside, the device vibrated once—sharp, controlled.
Kai stopped walking.
The vibration stopped.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Got you."
He pulled out his phone and dialed Jax.
"You busy?" Kai asked the moment the call connected.
"Depends," Jax replied. "Are you about to do something stupid?"
"Possibly productive."
Silence. Then a sigh. "Talk."
"I confirmed it reacts to deviations," Kai said. "Not location. Behavior."
"That's not surveillance," Jax said slowly. "That's guidance."
"Or correction," Kai replied. "Either way, it doesn't like surprises."
"Where are you?"
"Out in the open. On purpose."
Jax didn't respond immediately. When he did, his tone had changed. "You want backup?"
"Not yet," Kai said. "I want to see how far I can push before it pushes back."
---
Kai walked again, this time deliberately erratic. He doubled back, crossed streets without reason, stopped abruptly. Each time, the device reacted—never the same way twice, but always enough to confirm awareness.
This wasn't passive tracking.
This was live monitoring.
At the third vibration, his phone buzzed with an unknown number.
No text. No call.
Just a single notification containing coordinates.
Kai stared at the screen. The location was close. Too close.
He typed a reply.
> Who are you?
No response.
He waited ten seconds. Then twenty.
The device vibrated again—longer this time.
Kai exhaled slowly. "So that's how you want to play."
He sent one more message.
> I'm not going there.
Immediately, the vibration stopped.
The silence felt heavier than the threat.
---
Kai returned to his apartment without incident. Once inside, he locked the door and leaned against it, mind racing. This wasn't about intimidation. It was about testing compliance.
They wanted to see:
How quickly he reacted
How far he would resist
Whether he followed instructions
And now they had an answer.
He placed the device back on the table and opened his notebook, writing one clear line at the top of the page:
THEY NEED ME ALIVE.
That was leverage.
He sent Jax a final message.
> Kai: They're guiding, not hunting.
Kai: Which means they need something from me.
Jax: That's not comforting.
Kai: It's useful.
Kai closed the notebook.
Tomorrow, he wouldn't test the device.
Tomorrow, he would test them.