The night didn’t bring rest.It brought clarity.Elara sat at the small metal table, the glow from the tablet casting sharp lines across her face. The data hadn’t changed, but the way she was seeing it had.Everything Kessler had said had forced a shift.They weren’t chasing a man anymore.They were tracing a system.Behind her, Dominic leaned against the wall, arms folded, watching, not the screen, but her.“You’ve been staring at that for an hour,” he said quietly.Elara didn’t look up.“I’m not staring.”A beat.“I’m listening.”Dominic’s brow lifted slightly.“To data?”She exhaled softly, finally glancing at him.“To patterns.”He pushed off the wall, walking over slowly.“Then tell me what it’s saying.”She turned the tablet toward him, tapping the screen.“Look here,” she said. “Prague, Vienna, the Austrian relay, on their own, they look like separate operations.”“They’re not.”“No,” she said. “They’re layered.”Dominic leaned slightly closer, studying the map.“Go on.”Elara
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