Nora nodded. “And like I said, our prototype is missing. At first, I thought Rowan had died of a heart attack because we lost it.”

“Then you absolutely have to tell someone,” Alex said.

“And lose our contract and all future contracts—that is, if I even still have my life?”

Mackenzie squeezed her fists. “Don’t worry. We’ll find the missing drone.”

And she wanted to meet this man face-to-face—and end this, once and for all. With Alex by her side, of course.

Nora yawned.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow.” Mackenzie headed for the door.

Mackenzie and Alex left her sister in her bedroom and shut the door. She turned to him. “I need to get back on Knights Alliance and see if Julian could have left a message there. You were right—this is about war. That’s why Julian picked the game we used to play. It all connects and makes sense. And in fact, maybe there was no hidden message, but he expected the QR code to send me back to the game instead.” She pressed her hand to her forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You’re exhausted. That’s why. Have you gotten a decent night’s rest since this started?”

Mackenzie shook her head.

“Okay, just listen. Don’t react. But what if Nebulous 2.0 is Julian, and thanks for that by the way. You never actually told me his name.”

“And I didn’t mean to this time. And no. There’s no way. The FBI would have figured that out if he was. Julian is dead.”

“Or he faked his death, Mackenzie. This cybercriminal has the ability to change up records. You haven’t physically seen a body, so you can’t know.”

What? No. Julian was dead, and he hadn’t faked his death. He couldn’t be Nebulous 2.0. “I’m exhausted, and I can’t think straight.”

Mackenzie stepped forward, getting closer than she should have. But this guy . . . Alex. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you for what you’ve done. Helping me. Protecting Nora and me.” Why would he risk his own safety and career for her? Regardless of the reasons, she was grateful he had. “I knew I could trust you.”

Alex’s gaze—the intensity of his gray eyes—held her in place. What was he thinking? Then . . . pain flickered before it was shuttered away. He cleared his throat and gestured to his room. “You need to grab a few hours of shut-eye.”

His abruptness startled her, though what had she expected? And she was so drained, she should sleep before she said something she regretted on a more . . . personal level. “Right. Okay. See you in the morning.”