The old contact I believed was dead—a former Northvale agent who supposedly perished alongside my father—was alive, and currently located in Zurich. His last message made my entire carefully planned cover identity feel like tissue paper about to catch fire.
"Lianna's personal emergency code? Where did you see it, Ben?" I asked, my voice barely registering in the stuffy rental apartment. I hit the answer button on the secure channel, dismissing the risk of the digital footprint I knew I was leaving.
"On Elara's main control terminal, Cassian. I breached their old server network, which is still running beneath the old Syndicate offices," Ben replied, his voice a mix of tension and excitement. Four months on the sidelines had transformed him from a shadow into a frontline operative. "Elara
