In an apartment overlooking Meridian Bay's harbor, Dr. Elias Verne adjusted the frequency on his monitoring equipment. The specialized receivers had gone silent ninety minutes earlier—Chen and Harlow had finally detected his surveillance. He smiled slightly, a gesture no one was present to observe. They were learning, adapting. It made the composition more interesting.
Verne moved to his workstation where twelve monitors displayed different angles of the city. Through careful manipulation of traffic cameras, security systems, and his own strategically placed devices, he maintained a fragmented but effective surveillance network. The two investigators had gone dark, but they couldn't hide completely. Not in Meridian Bay.
He picked up a small device from his workbench—an ordinary-looking h
