Agents moved swiftly through the underground lot, sweeping every corner, clearing lines of sight. The impostor operatives had vanished — but the tension they left behind had not. Elena could feel it in the way everyone moved: tight shoulders, clipped speech, eyes scanning not for enemies outside… but inside.
They escorted her and Adrian to a secondary lift — not the front corridor, but a sealed freight elevator with biometric locks. Two agents stood inside already, one tapping into a secure relay, the other watching them both with a kind of deliberate neutrality. Not hostile — but not trusting either.
The doors shut. Heavy. Final.
The lift ascended.
Adrian didn’t leave Elena’s side. Even when the agents positioned themselves opposite them — not with guns drawn, but with the awareness t
