~Blair’s~

“People hide things where they think no one dares to look,” I mutter as I swipe my access badge through the sublevel archive door.

The lock blinks green.

And I step into the tomb of secrets.

The air down here smells like dust and locked drawers. Cold. Too cold. Like even the walls are tight-lipped. I pull my coat tighter and make my way down the row of filing cabinets and digital safes, each labeled with elegant brass tags—Asset Archives, Foreign Dealings, Personnel Backlogs.

And then I find it.

Red Tape Overflow — sitting in the far corner like someone hoped it’d be forgotten.

I lift the lid of...