They cut the trip short by a day, the Singapore partnership signed and celebrated hastily before boarding a red-eye flight home, and Ivy spent most of the eighteen hours back turning Reagan's message over in her mind, the small unease from the office hallway resurfacing sharper than before.

"Ashford Transit," Sterling said, once they'd landed and settled into Reagan's office directly from the airport, exhaustion carved deep into both their faces. "Small company, but it operates almost entirely in the same regional corridor we just secured expansion rights to in Singapore. That's not a coincidence."

"He's trying to box you in," Reagan said, spreading a map across the table, the...