The first real test of Kieran's new direction came four days later, not from Renata Cho or Marcus Webb, but from inside his own building, in the form of a resignation letter left on his desk with no warning attached to it. Noa found out only because he came to find her afterward, something shaken in his expression that she hadn't seen since the night Talia went missing.
"Three of my senior operational people quit this morning," he said, sitting heavily in the chair across from her desk instead of his usual restless standing. "Not the ones I expected to push back hardest, either. Quiet resignations, effective immediately, no negotiation, no attempt to discuss severance or transition. They just left."
"Is that dangerous," Noa asked, already understanding from his tone that the answer wasn'
