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“Encrypted messages?”

Nothing.

“Intermediaries?”

Nothing.

“Different identities each time?”

There. A flicker. Elena catches it.

“Never the same person twice.”

Karras looks at her, and she holds his gaze without blinking.

For the first time, I understand exactly what she is doing. She has stopped questioning him. She is building the confession around him and leaving him fewer places to stand.

“How many identities?” she asks.

Karras says nothing.

“More than ten?”

No answer.

“More than twenty?”

His thumb moves along the handle of the cane.

“Did you ever meet the same intermediary twice?”

A long silence passes. Then Karras exhales.

“Never.”

The room changes. Not dramatically. No one moves. No one raises a voice. But we are past denial now. Elena doesn't celebrate. She simply asks the next question.

“How did instructions arrive?”

“Different ways.”

“Be specific.”

“Encrypted mail. Private terminals. Sometimes written instructions through couriers.”

“Names?”

“False.”

“Faces?”

“Different.”

“Locations?”

“Never repeated.”

Elena glances at me once.