He forced them open.
“Why?”
Daniel answered carefully.
“We don't know yet.”
Marcus looked toward the ceiling.
For a moment, the room disappeared.
He remembered standing beside his garage that morning.
Patricia screaming.
Police arriving.
Her hand striking her own arm.
Eighteen seconds.
The camera.
The truth.
He had thought that incident was the beginning of the end.
Now he realized it had only exposed the surface.
“Play it,” Marcus said.
Daniel looked at him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn looked uneasy.
Marcus repeated himself.
“Play it.”
Daniel connected the drive to the clubhouse computer.
The projector screen came alive.
The first video showed Marcus's driveway at night.
Nothing happened.
A second clip showed his mailbox.
Nothing.
A third showed his front gate.
Nothing.
Then the fourth clip appeared.
A Sentinel vehicle stopped outside Marcus's house.
A man stepped out.
He stood across the street.
He watched the house.
Then he raised a camera.
Marcus stared.
The footage jumped forward.
Another day.
Another vehicle.
Another man.
Same behavior.
The footage jumped again.
A woman in a Sentinel uniform stood near the sidewalk.
She photographed Marcus leaving for work.
Another clip showed his wife carrying groceries.
Another showed a contractor arriving at the house.
Another showed a delivery driver.
Marcus felt his chest tighten.
He turned toward Daniel.
“Why were they recording my family?”
Daniel looked at the screen.
“We don't know.”
“Find out.”
Daniel nodded.
“We intend to.”
The room stayed silent as the footage continued.
Then something appeared that made Marcus lean forward.
The camera angle changed.
This footage had been recorded from a Sentinel vehicle parked directly across from his house.
A timestamp appeared.
The date was nearly a year earlier.
Marcus watched himself walk outside.
He was younger by only a few months, but something about the scene made him feel as if he were watching a stranger.
Patricia's voice could be heard faintly in the recording.
The audio was poor.
But one phrase was clear.
“Watch him.”
Marcus froze.
Daniel stopped the video.
Nobody spoke.
Evelyn looked horrified.
“Can you enhance the audio?”
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
The clip played again.
Static.
Wind.
Traffic.
Then Patricia's voice.
“Watch him.”
A second voice asked, “For what?”
Patricia answered.
“Until he makes a mistake.”
Marcus stared at the screen.
His face became expressionless.