But someone wasn’t.
Mara stopped mid-page, pulse spiking.She leaned closer to the terminal, scrolling back, then cross-checking against the physical access logs.
“No,” she murmured.Then, louder, “Luca.”
When she looked up, he was already watching her, Elias right behind him.
“This man,” she said, tapping the screen.“He’s not outer-outer.He’s a liaison.Logistics coordination between two operational rings.He sees movement patterns.Timing.Which cells are active without knowing why.”She swallowed, excitement cutting through the exhaustion.“And he’s been to Havelock’s office.Twice.Meetings I remember logging as ‘financial interface.’”
That sharpened the room.
Elias stepped in beside her, eyes scanning fast.“One layer down from core,” he said.“Close enough to smell heat.Far enough not to get burned.That would give him access to rhythm.Enough to sell direction without touching the work.”
Luca straightened.“Name?”
“Daniel Kovac,” she said.
“Mateo’s already pulling everything,” Luca said, already moving.“Addresses.Financial bleed.Known contacts.”
Mara shook her head, breath quick now.“Are we going straight there?”
“No,” Luca agreed immediately.“We go back to the house.Get the others across what’s changed.Get you squared away safe before we move.”
Elias was already on his phone.“I’ll stay here and verify the address.Confirm timelines.If this is our man, I want certainty before we put boots on his floor.”
Chapter Fourteen
“So, the Code,” Marasaid quietly, breaking the rhythm of the road, “that’s the line you don’t cross.”
Luca didn’t answer right away.
The city slid past them in muted color—concrete, glass, the last smears of morning traffic thinning as they moved farther from the center.He drove with both hands on the wheel now, posture loose but intent, eyes scanning mirrors more often than she’d noticed before.
“It’s not just a line,” he said finally.“It’s the reason any of this works.”
Mara turned toward him.“Because it means you can live with yourselves?”
