Page 104

We lingered there a few more minutes, talking about nothing in particular. Only then did I notice that his attention kept returning to the doors.

“You keep doing that,” I said.

“Doing what?”

“Looking at the doors.”

He was quiet for exactly as long as it took to decide something. “It’s an old habit,” he said. “Architects are trained to look at exits. It’s the first thing you learn and the last thing you unlearn.”

I knew what he was saying was true. I just didn’t think that was why he was looking now.

* * *

Alexander

Earlier that morning, Marcus came to my office the way he did when something had changed. He did not sit. He never does.

“The additional coverage is in place,” he said. “Two on the research floor during operating hours, one overnight. Residential is unchanged, with one in the lobby and one on the fifteenth floor. I’ve kept the roster to people I’ve worked with before.”

I nodded.

“The east service corridor has been sealed at both ends. The keycard system now logs manual overrides in a separate register. I review it personally each morning.”

“Good.”

Marcus placed a thin folder on the table between us. “She was in the opera house last night.”

I looked up. “How?”

He opened the folder before answering. “A forged production credential.”

He slid the photograph toward me. “We tracked her exit and recovered it from a trash can beside the stage entrance shortly after midnight. She entered through a staff entrance, exited the same way, and left before anyone realized she was there.”

“How did she get the credential?” I asked.

“We’re still trying to answer that.” Marcus paused. “Though I’d note it passed every check it should have failed. Whoever made it understood the system well enough to satisfy it.”

We both understood. Victoria did not need to break the system. She had helped build it.

He closed the folder. “The important question is why.”

I have known Marcus Barrett for eleven years. In that time, he has asked me perhaps four questions he was not required to ask, and he has never once repeated one after I declined to answer it. I have always understood that this restraint was a kindness he extended to me rather than a limitation of his character.

“Are you still intending to keep Dr. Rossi unaware of the increased security?”

I nodded.

“In that case,” Marcus said quietly, “her routine needs to change.”

“Explain.”

Marcus opened another page. “If she entered the opera house unnoticed,” he said, “we have to assume she’s already studying the building. Predictable routines become liabilities. Dr. Rossi leaves the laboratory at twelve-fifteen four days a week. She returns at one.”

I looked at him. “How long do we keep her routine unpredictable?”

“Until we understand what Victoria is trying to accomplish.”

I didn’t answer immediately. “I’ll clear the remainder of her afternoon.”