Pierce gave a slow nod. “You have my word, provided your secret does not endanger my officers.”Simon looked once more at the mark from a life he had buried. “I recognise it because I once commanded the soldiers stationed inside that bunker.”Pierce stared at him without speaking. The former fish seller standing before him had not merely fought in the continental war. He had commanded a military facility so secret that Arranguare’s modern executives did not know it existed.Pierce’s mouth had gone dry. Julian’s countdown continued behind them, but the commissioner heard only the wind between the unfinished buildings.“You commanded that bunker?” Pierce asked. He studied Simon’s face as if expecting the quiet man before him to become someone else. “That facility was abandoned after the continental war.”Simon checked that Edgar remained behind the police barricade. Marcus and the officers were gathered around the command unit, beyond hearing distance. “It was abandoned ten years ago, b

Less than fifty minutes remained on Julian’s countdown when Simon ordered Marcus to take Edgar away. Edgar stood beside the armoured vehicle with his wrists cuffed, his face was pale beneath the cold morning light.“Return him to Arranguare headquarters,” Simon instructed. “Place him inside the secure boardroom and keep guards at every entrance.Marcus accepted Edgar’s confiscated phone from the evidence officer. The device remained sealed inside a transparent evidence sleeve. “What happens if the kidnappers send another message?”“Preserve everything they send,” Simon replied. “Do not answer them, and do not allow Edgar to touch the phone. I need him alive when Pierce and I return.”Marcus looked from the sealed phone to the wartime survey inside Pierce’s vehicle. “Where are you and Commissioner Pierce going? If you are sending me back to headquarters, who will continue searching for Julian?”“We are heading to the abandoned processing centre in the northern district,” Simon answered