Chapter 1

1: 1

I was about to be late for work when the supervisor who'd framed me for stealing my old company's R&D suddenly called:

"Everard Gilbert, where are you? Are you at the office?"

"Don't clock in. You hear me? You can't clock in!"

I froze. "Why."

He was shaking all over, terror written across his face.

"Because... the second you clock in, I'm going to die."

I swore at him, called him crazy, and hung up. But the messages kept coming:

"Don't clock in! Whatever you do, don't clock in! I'm on my way, just don't clock in!"

I couldn't even deal with it.

Back when I worked there, he came after me every chance he got.

He even teamed up with other coworkers to frame me for stealing company R&D.

Got me fired, then blacklisted across the entire industry.

Now that I'd quit, he still wouldn't leave me alone.

Thinking about all that, I jabbed my finger at the time clock several times, furious.

"You're insane. You tell me not to clock in, so I won't? Watch me. I'll clock in and clock you out while I'm at it."

But the second I sat down, my phone lit up. Group chat, 99+ messages.

The first one stopped me cold:

"Oh my god! Someone's dead! Jordan Lambert... Jordan just got blown up!"

...

Something detonated in my skull. My mind went blank.

Jordan... dead?

I thought of him in that video call, face frozen in terror, screaming at me not to clock in.

My heartbeat nearly stopped.

But how was that even possible? I just clocked in for work. How could that kill anyone?

The group chat had already blown up:

"No way, seriously? How'd he die? He was fine, how does a guy just explode?"

"You think I'm joking? Little Li from R&D told me himself. Said Jordan was rushing out the door and boom, he just went off. The police are already there..."

The chat was all former Zenith Tech grunts venting about the place.

Any time some gossip came out of Zenith, someone would drop it in here to complain about.

I never expected this time it'd be Jordan's death.

I was about to ask for more when they sent over a photo.

In it, potbellied Jordan lay in a pool of blood. His head was gone.

My stomach lurched right there. I was scared out of my mind.

It was real. Jordan was actually dead.

I stared at the message he'd sent me before he died. Don't clock in. Those three words stabbed into my brain like needles.

My heart pounded so hard I couldn't stop it.

Why had Jordan called me before he died, telling me not to clock in?

It wasn't like I had some kind of superpower. There was no way clocking in could actually get him killed.

He'd framed me and cost me my job, sure, but I wasn't about to murder him over that.

Coincidence, I told myself. It had to be a coincidence.

But after work, something pulled me straight to Zenith Tech.

I leaned in for a look.

The blood at the entrance had already been scrubbed clean, and somehow people were still inside pulling overtime.

I couldn't help thinking: heartless corporate machine. Someone dies and the grunts still have to keep grinding.

I'd just turned to leave when Peter James from operations spotted me.

"Everard? What are you doing here?"

I felt awkward. When I'd quit, Jordan and I had thrown down right there in the office.

Now he was dead, and me showing up like this... it might stir up trouble.

I cleared my throat. "Nothing, just... just heard Jordan died..."

Peter sighed and pulled me off to the side, dropping his voice.

"Ugh, don't even get me started. This morning, he'd barely been at the office a few minutes when he suddenly jumped up from his desk!"

"Then he took off running like a madman. He'd just reached the door when boom, he blew up!"

"God, the sight of it. Terrifying. Everyone was shaken."

For no reason I could name, guilt crept over me. "So what are the police saying? He was fine. How does someone die in an explosion like that?"

"Right? Get this, his head self-detonated. Cops found a busted chip on him. Early read is it's some kind of high-tech crime."

The words high-tech let me breathe again.

High-tech? I didn't know the first thing about it.

And after I got fired, I never saw Jordan again.

Peter let out a cold laugh.

"High-tech. How are they supposed to trace that?"

"Our company does chip R&D. Supervisor Lambert threw his weight around here for years. You think he was short on enemies? Who's to say some coworker didn't take him out?"

I kept my head down and said nothing, but privately I agreed with him.

Back when Jordan deliberately framed me for stealing company R&D and got me fired,

then had me blacklisted across the whole industry, I really could have killed him.

But now I had a new job, steady income, and none of that misery.

If he hadn't suddenly called telling me not to clock in, I'd have half forgotten the guy existed.

Once I was sure this had nothing to do with me, I said my goodbyes and left.

But the moment I got home, someone yanked me into a corner.

The first thing they said nearly scared me to death:

"Everard, why did you kill Jordan?"