POV: Ayla

The uncertain file does not stay theoretical for long.

We take the open status cases back to the compound under full chain of custody. The one that matters most is the transit loss from eighteen months ago—a child, sealed, moved, then marked *contact lost*. The second is the adult-containment preference with a birth year older than mine and a last update recent enough to hurt. Zane builds the recovery track while Caius puts the new evidence into the shared regional protocol. Ryker wants a team ready to move the moment a location firms up. I sit with the files and the images from the stronghold shelves until the...