Page 194 of Silent Target

“The Chairman believed no one paid attention to the woman taking notes.”

Mac frowns. “What are you thinking?”

She flips through the pages.

Her eyes race across diagrams and handwritten margins.

Then stop.

A small smile touches her mouth.

Not relief.

Recognition.

“I don’t think this scanner identifies a person.”

Fathom moves beside her. “What does it identify?”

“Authority.”

She turns the journal around.

Beside a sketch of the scanner, Charles Whitmore wrote:

TRUST CAN BE STOLEN MORE EASILY THAN IDENTITY.

Fathom’s expression changes.

“It’s reading an encryption key.”

“Yes.”

He drops beside the access panel and removes a set of cables.

“That’s brilliant.”

Evie kneels with him.

Behind us, Victor’s rifle fires.

The round strikes the conduit wall.

Shark returns fire.

“We need to move.”

Fathom connects to the scanner.

“Give me sixty seconds.”

The demolition timer reaches seven minutes.

Victor’s voice comes through the corridor.

“You cannot win.”

Calm.