She was already waiting in Sable's conference room when Ethan arrived, and she was reading something on her tablet so intently that she did not look up for a full four seconds after he sat down.When she did look up, her expression was not the expression of someone meeting a stranger. It was the expression of someone who has studied a subject for a long time and is now, finally, looking at the primary source."You're younger than I expected," she said."You're exactly as I expected," he said.She set the tablet down. Dr. Priya Achar was thirty-eight, with sharp dark eyes behind round glasses and the kind of stillness that belongs to people who spend most of their hours thinking rather than talking. She had driven fourteen hours from her university research lab without stopping to fly because, she would later tell him, she needed the thinking time."I read your full patent application on the way here," she said. "Every word. Every claim. Every technical specification.""And?" he said.

"Someone is looking at you," Sable said.She slid a folder across the desk as Ethan sat down. Inside was a single printed page, dense with highlighted lines."What is this?" he said."A background investigation report. Someone commissioned it on you four days ago." She tapped the page. "Our security team intercepted a data request made through a private investigation firm that Meridian Global has used before. It covers everything. Your finances. Your employment history. Your family. Your mother."He went very still."My mother," he said."She is not in any danger," Sable said immediately. "This is information gathering, not a threat. But you need to know it is happening." She folded her hands on the desk. "They are looking for leverage. Something personal they can use to create pressure or distraction.""What did they find?" he said."You have no outstanding debts. No legal history. No addictions. No affairs. Your finances are modest but completely clean." She looked at him directly.