Three Days Later

The first sign came on a Tuesday morning.

Vance was reviewing the project updates in his cabin when an email pinged from Sigrid, the site manager. Subject: Preliminary Design Submission – Section 4 Approved.

He opened it, frowning. Section 4 was the sustainability metrics, the most technically complex part of the requirements. Zane should have been struggling with it for weeks.

He clicked through to the attached files.

The submission was... competent. More than competent. The data was clean, the methodology sound, the local benchmarks correctly referenced. Someone had done their homework.

Vance leaned back. Interesting.

Two Days Later

The group had a working lunch in the...