ELLIOT
“Don’t look at it.”
Sera said it without moving her head. Her eyes stayed forward. Her hands stayed in her lap. She could have been commenting on the traffic.
“Sera—”
“If he knows we have seen it, we lose whatever advantage we have.” Her voice was low. Precise. “Keep looking forward.”
He looked forward.
The black vehicle sat three cars ahead at the intersection, completely still while everything around it moved. No plates. No identifying marks. Just a presence that announced itself through its deliberate refusal to be ordinary.
“Daniel,” Elliot said.
“I see it,” Daniel said from the front. He had not needed to be told to keep driving. He had already changed lanes once, smoothly, without signal. Testing.
The black vehicle changed lanes simultaneously.
“It is following us,”
