The words land hard enough to shift the air.
“Good,” I breathe.
“Your evidence accelerated the timeline,” she continues. “Without it, this may not have been uncovered in time.”
“In time for what?” I ask.
She doesn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she gestures toward the display.
The data shifts.
New information overlays ours.
Confirmed.
Cross-referenced.
Expanded.
“His operation was scheduled to initiate within the next forty-eight hours,” she says.
My stomach drops.
Not from surprise.
From confirmation.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “That tracks.”
“Your intervention prevented that escalation,” the first voice adds.
“Don’t make it sound like a favor,” I reply. “It was damage control.”
“Regardless of intent,” he says, “the outcome is significant.”
I let out a slow breath, the tension in my shoulders easing just a fraction.
“Then fix it,” I say. “Don’t just stop him. Fix the system that let him do it.”
The room stills again.
“That is not a simple request,” the woman says.
“No,” I agree. “It’s not.”
“Structural reform at that level?—”
“Is exactly what this requires,” I cut in.
Her gaze sharpens.
“You’re asking us to dismantle operational frameworks that have been in place for decades,” she says.
“I’m asking you to stop pretending they work,” I reply.
Silence stretches again, longer this time.
