Death by Mirage

Dinner and a Server

By: J.G. O'Sax

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

DEATH BY MIRAGE: DINNER AND A SERVER
The numbers don't lie. But they can be made to scream.
Gemma Prescott has forty-eight hours to save her legacy. Ousted by a boardroom of predators known as The Beasts, she retreats into the shadows of the Vanguard empire. But she isn't alone. Her brother, Elias, is a master of the Mirage: a terrifying new technology that uses a swarm of micro-drones to project a human presence so real it has a heartbeat.
While Gemma manipulates the digital ledgers, Elias becomes the perfect assassin. He is a ghost who dines at the Grand Avery in full view of a hundred witnesses while his targets are systematically eliminated miles away. It is the perfect alibi loop: a masterpiece of steak, wine, and cold-blooded execution.
Sgt. Miller is the only one who hears the static. After witnessing two versions of the same woman in a single night, he becomes obsessed with the "pilot" behind the projections. He’s chasing a man who smells of cigar smoke but leaves no tracks in the desert sand.
As the audit reaches its blood-soaked conclusion at a synthetic ghost town in the Mojave, Miller must decide if he’s hunting a man or a miracle. But in the Mirage Protocol, the truth isn't buried. It’s programmed to disappear.