POV: Caius

The meeting is not one we choose.

We track the last active mid-tier code from the stronghold records into a holding structure on the far edge of unsigned country—a low stone building that has been repaired so many times its original shape is almost lost. The recovery trail for the missing girl has gone cold for the moment. The code has not. It resolves to a single occupant who did not run when the outer markers tripped.

Ryker takes the primary entry. I follow with Ayla under the same boundary that has held since the stronghold: if the network’s center is present, she does not receive the encounter...