Page 225 of Scars of Fate

“Yes.”

“What changed?”

“Minser and Kane realized predicting conflict wasn’t nearly as profitable as creating it.”

My stomach turned.

“Meridian.”

“Meridian is the operational side of Fate,” Ghost said. “Fate identifies where a country is vulnerable. Meridian applies pressure.”

“A murdered official.”

“A missing aid shipment.”

“A bomb in the right marketplace.”

“A rumor placed inside the right military unit.”

“And when the government begins to collapse, they sell weapons to both sides. They secure mining rights, oil contracts, reconstruction agreements, and private-security deals.”

Lucas looked toward the mountains.

“They manufacture wars.”

“Yes.”

The financial transactions I’d uncovered hadn’t followed the attacks.

They had funded them.

Every ruined village.

Every murdered family.

Every child locked inside that warehouse.

Not random casualties of war.

Profits.

“How many countries?” I asked.

“Fate is currently active in eleven.”

“Currently?”

Ghost met my eyes in the mirror.

“Three are scheduled to collapse within the next six months.”

No one spoke.

The scale of it was impossible.

“You said Lucas saw the first shipment,” Adam said. “What was inside?”

“Servers. Data-storage systems. The original Fate program.”