MINE IN EVERY LIFETIME
Chapter Sixty Nine — Still Running
Vael looked at the file on the desk.
She kept looking at it.
The silence in the room was the kind that had weight.
The kind you felt in your chest before anyone said anything to put it there.
Then she said:
"Yes."
One word.
Flat.
Real.
"The Clearing is still running," she said. "Scaled back. Quieter than it was. But running." She paused. "Your father did not stop when the old Council dissolved. He moved the operation out of the formal structure before anyone could document it." She held Caius's gaze. "The compound outside Delvane is not just where he lives. It is where the program operates from now."
The room was very still.
"How many people," Zane said.
"Twelve that I can confirm," Vael said. "Possibly more."
"And wh
