Naomi’s face had gone smooth in the way faces did when training took over.
Nick continued. “Old contractor credentials. We caught the pull when Sarah ran a secondary audit after the southcheckpoint. Your route has changed. The aircraft is being rechecked. Your luggage is being held until a second inspection clears.”
“What else?”
“The access point is being traced.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“I know.”
The air through the vents touched the back of my neck, too cold now. “What else, Nick?”
His breath shifted once. “The manifest included your vehicle assignment and departure window. Not passenger medicals. Not luggage tags. Not aircraft details. Vehicle and time.”
Enough to find me on a road.
Enough to make leaving look clean until it wasn’t.
“So I wasn’t the original target,” I said.
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
“They were watching response patterns,” Nick said. “Gate times. Staff access. Ranger movement. Then I changed pattern.”
The air through the vents felt colder against my neck. “Changed it how?”
“The library. Your suite. The extra vehicle checks. The delay on your transfer.” His voice stayed flat, but the control in it had gone thin. “I made you visible because I kept adjusting the system around you.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“They didn’t need you to be the point at first,” he said. “They needed leverage. Once they knew where my attention kept going, they had it.”
“Is anyone moving toward us?”
“Not that we have confirmed.”
“Then who is with you?”
“Elias at the lodge. Sarah at the desk. Daniel en route to you. Mbeki on the airstrip. I’m coordinating from ops.”
Not with me.
Because he had stayed where he could command the whole board instead of one piece of it.
The knowledge should have soothed something. It didn't.
Outside, the driver spoke low into his radio. Naomi listened without turning around. Cufflink stared at me with all the color gone from his expensive face.
“When do we move?” I asked.
“When Daniel arrives and clears the alternate route. Five minutes if nothing changes.”
“If something changes?”
“You will do exactly what the driver tells you.”
