ing to turn a slate gray, and in the large windows of the 27th

, but she had nowhere else to go, and even less desire to pretend she did. The ritual of the first few days in a new unit was

hen she

before, an unmarked section with no visible cameras. They walked fluidly, almost in sync, a

e corner of her eye. They were different. They dressed the same as everyone else-gray suits, impeccable shoes-bu

ulpted like marble-turned her head slightly. For an instant

needle. It wasn't hostile. It was... eva

cí

ng to any visible operational team. And yet, they mo

e titles. Sometimes, the real influence lay in the shadows: in the names that w

concentration. But in reality

preadsheet she didn't need to review, Lucía thought about them again. About their

oyalty is at play here too? Bruno would know something. He knows

with it, a new kind of danger:

past the door where those employees had left. She paused fo

She started

inted from the inside, two

mage of that unmarked door, she didn't immediately realize

gures watched on a screen divided into quadrants. One of the quadrants showed

aid the black-haired woman, withou

plied her companion, a thin man with an ascet

w they were in another phase: observing, recording, measuring. Thei

le?" h

No external ties. High level of emotio

is

enti

zoomed in on Lucía's face, frozen at the exact moment she'd looked t

seen somethin

is what she

le

sn't punished. Acting was punished. An

s that was unsettling. It wasn't f

lace like this,

Lucía walked away, unaware that her image had been frozen, amplified,

ile that had just arrived, marked with a st

ng – Level of Inte

closed the docu

open it.

ething stirr

nder obs

tion was profe

nd... no

sn't an alert but a condemnation. On the screen, his name appeared as the primary recipient

en it. He knew exact

s enough for someone to have noticed her lurking where she should

, for him, burn

s if he could erase the look of

her to be careful where she looks... that not everything that seems h

tone, as if it weren't personal. As if it were ju

lence. Of her way of processing ever

e hes

Would she defend herself? Would she see me as an emissa

that. Not in that

do it. They still didn't trust each other. They were still caught in the precari

ow. The city lights seemed distant, blurry. From u

esn't need protection? What if warning her

Disappointe

ths, covered up crises, carried out orders that emptied him inside. But

se Lucía

n years, he wanted to be more tha

file without marking it as read, and

't noti

that

onitor, he knew he had cro