The packing plant smelled of brine and old ice, the ghost of a thousand dead fish lingering in the concrete walls long after the last catch had been processed. Kade Renner sat at the secondary terminal in the corner of Axel's makeshift command center, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, his pale eyes fixed on the screen. He had been working for an hour, guiding the team through the Spire's security architecture, mapping the patrol routes, identifying the blind spots in the camera coverage. He was good at this—too good, perhaps, for a man who claimed to have spent three years trying to atone for his sins.
Caleb stood in the doorway, watching him. The countdown clock on the main monitor read *01:03:22*. In just over an hour, they would leave for the Spire. In just over two hours, the di
