“Alexei identified him before he died,” I continue. “But identifying him and dismantling him are different things. Arkady wants escalation. He wants visible tension. He wants me reacting.”
Mikel studies me. “You’re not reacting.”
“I’m positioning.”
That difference matters.
After Mikel leaves, I begin the second review. Not of Arkady, of Rowan.
I pull hospital staffing rotations for the last sixty days. Polina filtered the list to individuals who frequently intersect with Rowan’s schedule. Surgeons. Nurses. IT staff. Administrative coordinators.
I’m not searching for guilt. I’m searching for patterns.
Lila Moreno appears often. That’s expected, given their shared shifts, shared cases, and regular overlap outside the hospital. Their nearness makes sense. I open Lila’s access log and carefully review it, finding nothing irregular.
Her badge scans match her documented schedule. No unexplained floor changes or after-hours entries. I check cross-referenced social data. Dinner photos. Study sessions. Years of shared history. There’s nothing actionable.
Acting on suspicion without proof would create damage I can’t afford. If I allow myself to question Rowan’s closest relationships without evidence, I undermine the foundation I’mtrying to protect. I close Lila’s file.
Next, I review hospital IT staff who had access to consultation routing permissions. The list is small, fewer than twelve people. Of those, only four had active shifts the night the fabricated consultation was entered. Polina is already digging deeper into their financials.
I lean back and exhale slowly. The danger didn’t originate from someone who cares about Rowan. It originated from someone who sees her as leverage. That distinction keeps my restraint intact.
I don’t escalate within her world. I don’t confront hospital administrators or question staff without cause. Not yet. Patience gives me more leverage than confrontation ever would.
Arkady believes time favors him because he believes I’m still stabilizing my position after my father’s death. He assumes I’m dividing my attention between internal consolidation and external threats. He doesn’t understand that protecting Rowan isn’t a distraction. It’s a priority.
I gather the printed logs into a neat stack before setting them aside. The physical order mirrors the mental one. There was no breach. There was an opening, and someone within her immediate circle created it.
I lean back in the chair and adjust my shirt sleeves. Arkady prefers distance and silence, and so do I. He believes he remains unseen because he operates through other people, but he’s wrong. This isn’t escalation. It’s positioning, and I’m alreadywhere I need to be.
I send a secure message to Polina.
Embed secondary surveillance into the hospital’s access monitoring. Don’t interfere with their system. Mirror it. I want independent confirmation on all consultation entries connected to Rowan.
Her response comes quickly.
Polina:I can build and deploy the mirror within forty-eight hours.
I send my response immediately.
Accelerate it.
A short pause as she recalculates.
Polina:Twenty-four hours.
I accept that.Better.
Next, I call Leo.
“Coordinate with EMS routing,” I direct. “Not through official channels. I want independent verification on dispatch logs affecting Rowan’s residential grid and the hospital sector.”
“You’re anticipating another reroute,” he replies.
“I’m anticipating repetition.”
He acknowledges without argument.
