The session began at eight o'clock exactly. Nine people around the table. The same formation as Friday, the same faces, the same careful distribution of stillness and attention. But the quality of the room was different. An emergency session carries weight that a scheduled one does not. Everyone present had rearranged their Sunday morning for this, and that rearrangement had a cost they were each aware of.Hargreaves sat in his usual position. Fourth from the right. Hands folded. Celeste sat directly opposite me, as before. On the table in front of her was a document folder that was thicker than the one she had brought on Friday.Edmund Pryce opened the session."This emergency convening has been called under Article Fourteen of the founding charter," he said. "A single council member has presented evidence of a direct threat to the network's integrity. The full council is present. The blood heir is present. We proceed." He looked at Celeste. "You called the session. You have the floo

The car went faster than I had ever experienced a car go on a city street. Conrad drove with both hands on the wheel and an expression I had never seen on him before, something stripped down to pure function, every ounce of his usual contained calm redirected entirely into the mechanics of getting from one place to another place as quickly as physics allowed.Abby had her phone against her ear, calling someone, her voice low and fast. I sat with my own phone still connected to the unknown caller."Are they hurting him?" I said into it. My voice did not sound like my voice. "Tell me what you know. Right now."A pause."We do not have eyes on the location," the voice said. "We have the phone call Hargreaves made. We know the call went to a number associated with a private security contractor he has used before. We do not know what instructions were given." A pause. "I am telling you this because you need to move, not because I have answers.""Why call me at all if you do not have answer