"Yes."
"You did not bring them to me."
"No."
"Why?”
"I wanted a pattern before I brought it to you. Six probes are a pattern. I was going to bring you the file on Monday."
The first lie of the night. The truth-shaped kind.
He turns around.
"Show me the file."
"It is not on me."
"It is on your phone."
"It is on a server I access through three keys. None of which are stored on the phone. I will bring it to you on Monday."
He studies me. I do not let my face do anything.
"Why are you tracking Stavros?”
"Because I think Kostas is preparing to move on the family. The probes’ architecture does not test the network for theft. They are mapping it for replacement. Whoever is running them intends to take the network whole, not skim it." I hold his gaze. "I have not seen architecture like it since the Vittorio era."
That is true.
The largest true thing I can afford to give him tonight.
Not the largest thing.
He is quiet. He is quiet the way Alessandro is quiet when he is deciding whether what he has just been told is the whole truth or the shape of the truth. He has been making that distinction for fifteen years.
I hold my face where it has been for this entire conversation.
He nods once.
"Monday. 8:00 a.m. Bring everything."
"I will."
"And Nadia."
"Yes."
"If you are watching Kostas Stavros, Kostas Stavros is watching you."
"I know."
"Then act as you know."
He turns back to the window. I cross to the door. I put my hand on the handle.
"Nadia."
I do not turn around.
