The screen outside the holding room flickered once, then stabilized — not on a network logo this time, but on a breaking news banner rolling across every monitor in the corridor.
CONFIDENTIAL IDENTITY BREACHED – SOURCE INSIDE AGENCY LEAKS NAME OF STUDENT
Then came the sentence that turned Elena’s blood to ice:
UNIVERSITY SOURCE CONFIRMS: STUDENT IS ELENA MARLOWE
No blur.
No redaction.
No delay until morning.
It had happened now.
Adrian moved first — not with panic, but with precision — crossing the room in three strides to the intercom panel. “Lock this floor down. Now.”
No response.
He hit the panel harder. “Lockdown! You have a live identity breach!”
Still silence.
Elena didn’t need him to translate.
The leak wasn’t around the agency.
It was inside this wing.
He turned
