The app opened to a map of the city, glowing with tiny, pulsing red icons. Each one represented a checkpoint. But as Alexei scrolled, he saw something strange. A single gold icon was moving fast—directly toward his current location.
The car door clicked open. Alexei realized too late that when you spend your life watching the watchers, eventually, they start watching you back.
He found a link on an underground forum, one that promised real-time GPS tracking of every patrol car in the district. He clicked download. The progress bar crawled forward, a thin blue line against the black screen. 98%... 99%... Complete.
The rain lashed against Alexei’s windshield as he pulled onto the dark highway outside of Moscow. His phone buzzed in the cup holder with a notification from a Telegram group: “DPS Kontrol update: heavy patrols on the M4.”