The Phoenix Initiative's Brussels headquarters was quiet in the hours before dawn, the only sound the soft hum of the monitors and the distant whisper of wind through the city's streets. Rook sat at the conference table, his eyes fixed on the reports spread out before him, the weight of the last week pressing down on him like something that had finally found its place.
The new network was taking shape. Petrov's infrastructure had been integrated with the Phoenix Initiative's operations, creating something that was stronger than either had been alone. The supply chain was operational, the contacts were in place, and the first operations were already underway.
But the fracture with Kruger was still raw. The man who had once been Rook's enemy—and then his unlikely ally—had been sidelined, p
