I turn away from the screen.
“They want us tomove,” I say. “To overcorrect. To reveal.”
I pause.
“And I refuse to dance on their timing.”
I glance back once more at Lena’s image.
“You were supposed to be leverage,” I say quietly. “But you are something else entirely. Those three years she was held prisoner have taught her everything she needs.”
I tap the console.
“Initiate misdirection,” I instruct. “Shift assets. Burn two secondary sites. Make it look like panic.”
A dangerous smile touches my mouth.
“Meanwhile,” I continue, “prepare the real adjustment.”
The analysts exchange uneasy glances.
“The journalist,” one says carefully.
“No,” I correct. “The belief.”
I step into the shadows, my voice dropping to a vow.
“If Ronan Pierce thinks he’s winning… then it’s time he pays for that certainty.”
Because compromised assets are inconvenient.
But confident enemies?
They are exploitable.
And now that I know Lena Hart sees the board as clearly as I do…
I will make sure she understands the cost of looking too closely.
47
Viktor Malenkov
Location: Secure Operations Cell — Unknown
Time: 0630 Hours
Violence is most effective when it looks emotional.
That is the mistake men like Pierce make—they believe brutality equals loss of control.
I let them believe that.
“Execute the burn,” I say calmly.
On the screens, secondary sites flicker into view—logistics hubs, shell offices, a holding annex already emptied weeks ago. Places with just enough importance to matter… but nothing that truly costs me.
“Timing?” an analyst asks.
