The meeting place was Marquez's choice, which was itself a piece of information.A man being watched chose locations that gave him visibility in multiple directions—exits he could reach, sight lines he could monitor, space between himself and the nearest person that functioned as early warning rather than comfort. The diner on Calloway Street had three exits, windows on two faces, a counter that gave a clear view of the entrance, and enough ambient noise from the kitchen and the overnight crowd of shift workers and insomniacs to make a conversation at the corner booth genuinely private.Ethan arrived eleven minutes early and sat facing the door.The guardian had argued against the meeting. Not emotionally—she'd presented it as a tactical assessment, methodical, the risks stacked against the potential gains in the clipped language she used when she wanted him to understand that her concern was professional rather than personal. He'd listened to all of it. He'd gone anyway, because the

The safe house smelled of stale coffee and cold ash.Ethan sat at the scarred wooden table, three pieces of paper arranged before him like evidence at a trial. Each one contained a single location, a single date, a single set of instructions. Three false trails. Three tests. Only one had drawn blood.Astra stood by the window, her tablet glowing in the gray morning light. The guardian occupied the corner chair, her presence heavy with silence, watching Ethan with those unreadable eyes that seemed to see through walls and lies alike."The Valley Road warehouse," Ethan said, his voice flat. "That's the one they hit."Astra nodded without turning from the window. "Three hours after the information went out. They moved fast.""How many?""Four. Maybe five. They didn't stay long once they realized the place was empty. Just enough time to confirm it was a trap." She finally turned, and Ethan saw the calculation behind her eyes. "They knew exactly where to look. Not the building. Not the str

The photograph had become the center of Ethan's universe.For hours, he'd been staring at it—the two women standing together in that Dominion building, his mother's familiar face smiling beside the unknown stranger. Every detail felt significant: the way his mother stood slightly behind the other woman, suggesting deference; the formal clothing they both wore, indicating an official occasion; the symbols on the wall behind them, which Ethan had identified as Dominion government insignia.But it was the unknown woman who consumed his attention.Who was she? How had his mother known her? And why had his mother hidden this connection?Astra worked beside him, her tablet connected to every database she could access. The guardian had been gone for several hours, following leads that Ethan didn't ask about. He trusted her judgment—or at least, he was learning to."I've been running facial recognition across every Dominion-era database I can access," Astra said, her voice strained with concen

The safe house was quiet in the hours before dawn.Ethan sat in the corner of the main room, his back against the wall, the Crimson Ledger open on his lap. He'd been reading the same page for nearly an hour without absorbing a single word. His mind was still on the rooftop, still on the guardian's confession, still on the revelation that she'd been protecting him since before he was born."I wasn't assigned to protect you after the Dominion fell. I was assigned to protect you before it fell."The words echoed in his mind like a half-remembered dream. His parents had known something was coming. They'd made preparations. They'd arranged for his protection years before the Dominion collapsed.But what had they known? And why hadn't they told anyone?Ethan closed the ledger and rubbed his eyes, exhaustion pulling at the edges of his consciousness. He hadn't slept properly in days. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw his mother's face in that photograph, standing beside Selene Ashford, h

The memory wouldn't let go.Ethan sat at the table in the safe house, his hands pressed flat against the scarred wood, trying to anchor himself in the present. But every time he closed his eyes, he heard it again—that voice, familiar and elusive, slipping through his mind like water through cupped fingers."Ethan. Remember what we told you."He'd heard that voice recently. He knew he had. But the memory was fragmented, incomplete, a puzzle with too many missing pieces.Astra appeared in the doorway, her tablet tucked under her arm. "You look terrible.""Thanks." Ethan rubbed his eyes. "I haven't slept.""Obviously." She crossed to the table and sat across from him, her expression shifting from sarcasm to concern. "What happened? You were out for hours. I tried to wake you twice, but you wouldn't respond."Ethan hesitated. The memory was still raw, still confusing. He wasn't sure how to explain something he barely understood himself."I had a memory," he said slowly. "A real one. Like