The Caged Mind

She built a fortress in her mind. He built a prison from his past.

Alex Zhang, a brilliant hacker, has silenced the world from within her maximum-security cell. Her only connection is to Chisoku, the sentient AI she created and would do anything to protect. Rowan Shepherd is an ex-soldier, hiding from the ghosts of a mission that went catastrophically wrong, his only solace the quiet work of his hands.

When a mysterious parasite infects her creation, Alex is forced to engineer an impossible escape, only to collide with a man as damaged and guarded as herself. Thrown together by chance, they soon discover their pursuers are tied to the very conspiracy that shattered Rowan's life.

Hunted by a ruthless enemy who will stop at nothing to bury the truth, this unlikely pair—a hacker who sees the world as code and a soldier who knows its brutal reality—must learn to trust each other. But as they unravel a lie that reaches the highest echelons of power, they must confront a terrifying question: can they outrun their own ghosts, or will their fragile alliance be the very thing that destroys them?