Eventually, he shoved them in her hand. “Mihail is being transferred. Three weeks.”
Audrey unfolded them. There were official-looking documents inside, with seals, stamps, and a departure schedule.
“At that point, he’ll be off Nepra,” he continued. “And once he leaves, retrieval becomes exponentially harder.”
Audrey only spared him a look, then kept reading.
He tapped the schedule in her hands. “Right now, he’s in a transfer pipeline. And every step leaves a trace that can be disrupted.” He moved closer, shifting into a calculated tone. “Once he’s on Nomac, he’ll have different handlers and a new set of security procedures. There will be no Field access, as we have here, or any local assets.”
Audrey didn’t reply, but she understood. As she studied all the codes and dates staring back at her, they read less like bureaucracy and more like a timer written in another language.
Ryker continued. “Three weeks is not a guess—it’s a guarantee. It’s the only period in which I can still hit the chain before they lock him behind systems I can’t crack quickly enough without burning everything else I have.”
“And if you miss it?” Audrey asked.
“Then Mihail becomes a long war instead of a recoverable asset,” he said. “And your sister becomes harder to trace becausethe one man who forced this board into motion is no longer in play.”
Her eyes scanned the final documents—and stopped.
Defense Counsel: Alexander Nørgaard.
She barely had time to process when she found the photo next. It was recent. Alex was standing outside a courthouse, with Cary beside him. She looked thinner and harder than Audrey remembered, but she was alive and real.
Audrey squeezed the image. Maren had been right—he’d been searching behind her back. “You knew.”
“I know many things.”
“You knew she was with him.”
“I know she’s connected to him.” A pause. “That’s not the same as possession.”
“You still don’t know where she is, though.”
“I know enough.” The wind ripped through them. “If Mihail is transferred,” Ryker said, “the window closes. After that, your sister disappears again.”
Audrey’s thoughts focused on around three people.
Mihail.
Alex.
Cary.
She handed him the papers. “You need Mihail.”
“I need my lieutenant.”
“And you require me to get him back.”
He didn’t deny it. “And if you want your sister, you need control.”
“What if I don’t learn fast enough?”
He didn’t look away from her. “Then someone faster will get to her.” The look burning in his eyes was pure calculation.
“What if that's you?” Audrey asked.
A shadow of a smile drew at his mouth. “If I reach her first, I will decide what she is.”
