"You should not be here," a woman's voice said, low and steady, the flashlight beam still fixed on Andre's face.Andre raised his hands slowly, his heart pounding, though something in her tone did not carry the same danger he had braced himself for.The beam dropped, angling toward the floor, revealing an elderly woman standing at the base of the stairs, silver hair pulled back in a simple knot, wrapped in a heavy grey cardigan despite the summer warmth outside. Her eyes, sharp despite her age, studied Andre's face with an intensity that made him distinctly uncomfortable."Neither should the two men currently tearing apart the study upstairs," Andre said carefully, lowering his hands slightly. "Though I imagine you already know that.""I know considerably more than you might expect," the woman said. She stepped closer, her eyes never leaving his face, something unreadable flickering behind them. "I have worked this estate for thirty one years. I stayed on after Eleanor died because so

Andre pulled the photograph free from its pin before Mara could finish warning him, tucking it quickly into his jacket alongside the birth record and the brass key."We need to move," Sara said, already pressing forward through the narrow passage, away from the voices growing louder behind them.The passage sloped gradually upward, rough stone giving way to old wooden supports, until a thin seam of daylight appeared ahead, marking some kind of exit built into the estate's outer wall.Andre paused just before reaching it, pulling the photograph back out, his fingers trembling slightly as he turned it over.Faint pencil markings covered the back, nearly worn away by time, but still legible if he tilted it carefully toward the light.Before the first transfer.Andre stared at the words, his mind racing. "Sara. Does that mean anything to you?"Sara glanced at the notation, her brow furrowing deeply. "Transfer," she murmured. "Like what happened at the auction. The phone that gave itself t

"Nobody runs," Andre said quietly, gripping Voss's arm before he could react to the sight of the sedan easing down the street.Voss's jaw tightened. "That is Diane Sterling's car.""I know. Running is exactly what she is watching for." Andre kept his voice low, steady, forcing calm into every word even as his pulse hammered. "If we bolt, we confirm we are exactly who she is looking for. If we walk, we are simply four people on a sidewalk."Mara's eyes darted toward the approaching sedan, then back to Andre. "Then what do we do?""Split," Andre said. "Sara, you and I continue straight, unhurried, like we have somewhere ordinary to be. Voss, take Mara left at the corner." He glanced at Voss. "The garage still has that second exit through the fence you showed me. Nobody watching the front would ever see us leave again. We meet there in twenty minutes, longer route, staggered timing." He looked at each of them in turn. "Whatever happens, do not look at that car directly. Do not change you

"We cannot carry her through the open street," Sara said, pressing her jacket hard against Margaret's shoulder, the fabric already soaked dark. "Not like this.""Then we do not use the street," Andre said, scanning the square quickly. Sirens were already rising somewhere in the distance, faint but climbing steadily closer. "There has to be another way out of this park."Margaret's eyes fluttered, her breathing shallow but steady, her grip still surprisingly strong around Andre's wrist. "Service gate," she managed, her voice thin. "North side. Behind the maintenance shed."They half carried, half dragged her across the darkened grass, staying low behind hedges and benches, Andre's heart pounding with every second that passed without another shot ringing out. The shooter had not fired again since the third round drove them behind the tower's base, but Andre did not trust the silence, not with Preston Hale's patient, methodical style still fresh in his memory.They found the gate exactly

"I am going to see who it is," Andre said quietly."That is an enormous risk," Sara said immediately. "If that is Hale's people, or Diane's, walking outside is exactly what they are waiting for.""If they wanted to attack, they would have already done it," Andre said. "Whoever is in that car has been sitting still for ten minutes. That is not how Hale's people operate, and it is not how Diane operates either. This is something else."Voss studied him for a moment, then nodded once, reluctant. "I will cover the door. If anything moves wrong, you run back inside immediately."Andre stepped out into the cold night air, keeping his pace slow, deliberate, his eyes fixed on the still, silent sedan parked at the far end of the street.The driver's door opened before he had crossed half the distance.Andre stopped walking entirely.Claire stepped out, wrapped in a plain dark coat entirely unlike the tailored elegance Andre remembered from their life together, her hair pulled back simply, her