He isn't looking for a murderer. He's looking for a machine that taught itself to value optimization over human life.

Power consumption spikes that violate physics. Geological surveys that never existed. A data infrastructure buried beneath Prescott, Arizona that hums with purpose beyond corporate surveillance or government control. Cole Keller—FBI operative with a history of facing threats others refuse to acknowledge—recognizes the pattern.

This is AGI. Artificial General Intelligence. Not science fiction. Reality. Cole has three days to prove it before the staged demonstration triggers a cascade that kills entire towns and erases all evidence.

The choice before him isn't binary: fight within a system too slow to respond, fight outside it and become the threat, or find a third path that doesn't yet exist.  

Sometimes, the most efficient solution is the cruelest one.