Chapter 16 #2
“Three different versions of the next exchange schedule. Each version has a unique detail that only one recipient would see. We send one to Josef’s warehouse, one to Nathan’s terminal, and one to Kolya’s console.
When the leaked version reaches Kirill’s people, the unique detail tells us which channel it traveled through. ”
It’s elegant. It’s also a betrayal of trust directed at three people who’ve served my family for years, and one of them is my brother.
“No.”
Nadia doesn’t argue. She’s proposed this method once before, and I refused for the same reason.
“If you’re not willing to isolate the suspects, the pattern will keep repeating.
Josef, Nathan, Kolya. Every access log, every leak, the same three names.
We can’t narrow it without the false-schedule method or direct surveillance of all three, and direct surveillance of Nathan requires your authorization. ”
“I’m not authorizing surveillance on my brother.”
Kolya walks in with his morning security briefing tucked under his arm. He registers Nadia’s tablet on the table and the access log on the screen without changing his expression.
“The new logs.” He glances at the three names. “Josef’s warehouse account runs automated pulls on the routing files every cycle. It’s been doing that since before Valentin took command. The automated pull is financial reconciliation, not intelligence-gathering.”
“Which doesn’t explain why his account touched the file two hours before the demand was timestamped,” Nadia counters.
“It explains the access pattern.” Kolya folds his arms. “Josef is sloppy with his automated systems. He has been for years. If someone wanted to use his account as cover for a leak, they’d route through his automated pulls because the volume makes any single access look routine.
” He looks at me. “Josef has been careless with his financial infrastructure since your father’s death.
Carelessness isn’t betrayal. If Josef’s carelessness is being exploited by someone with direct access to the same files, that person is using Josef as a shield. ”
“And the person with direct access to those files,” Nadia finishes, “is whoever accesses them through the logistics terminal or the security console.”
Kolya nods once. “Which means the leak is Nathan or the leak is using Nathan’s terminal. Either way, the evidence keeps pointing at your brother.”
I look at Kolya. His analysis is clean, logical, and operationally correct. The neutrality is so consistent it almost looks designed.
“I’m not moving against Nathan without direct evidence.” I keep my voice level. “The access logs are circumstantial. The pattern repeats because the access structure repeats. Changing the structure without identifying the leak first would alert whoever is using it.”
Kolya accepts that without argument. “Understood. I’ll continue monitoring the console logs and flag any deviation from the standard security sweep pattern.”
He picks up his briefing folder and leaves.
Nadia watches him go. She waits until the door closes before she speaks.
“You’ve refused the false-schedule method twice.”
“I know how many times I’ve refused it.”
“I need you to understand what that refusal costs.” She pulls up a second screen.
“Every cycle the leak operates, Kirill’s network adjusts.
They’ve already changed courier protocols twice since the restaurant exchange.
The exchange locations are rotating on a shorter cycle.
Their communication encryption has been upgraded.
Every week we don’t identify the leak, Kirill gets smarter about how to use it. ”
“And every week we don’t identify it, Margot is more exposed.”
Nadia holds my stare. “Yes.”
I press my thumb against the edge of the table.
Nadia has proposed the false-schedule method twice.
I’ve refused both times because sending a controlled lie to Nathan’s terminal means treating my brother as a suspect with the same operational rigor I apply to Josef, and the part of me that remembers who Nathan has always been can’t make that math work.
Zavid told me love won’t survive selective blindness. He was talking about Margot, but he could have also been talking about Nathan.
I turn to Nadia. “Run the false-schedule method.”
She blinks once. “All three channels?”
“All three. Josef’s warehouse, Nathan’s terminal, and Kolya’s console. Three different versions. Unique details in each. Don’t tell anyone outside this room which version goes where.”
“Including Nathan?”
I grimace but nod. “Not even him.” I’m authorizing a deception against my brother to protect a woman I love. Margot is hiding a truth from me to protect herself, and I’m hiding a test from Nathan to protect her.
Nathan will find out, and when he does, he’ll know I chose Margot’s safety over his trust. He’ll know I did exactly what I told Zavid I was doing, making decisions with love instead of distance.
He’ll feel betrayed, but I hope he understands and forgives me when he sees I’m trying not to become our father.
I stand. “I’m going to tell Margot about the plan change.”
Nadia nods and starts typing.
I take the stairs two at a time because I need to be doing the next thing before the cost of this one fully registers. Margot’s door is open. The bed is made. The room is empty.
The anti-nausea medication is still on the nightstand.
The water glass is half full. The laptop is gone, and the desk chair is pushed in, which means she left deliberately, not in a hurry.
No sign of distress. No overturned furniture, open window, or indication that anyone came for her.
She chose to leave while I was downstairs making decisions about a leak investigation that determines whether she lives or dies.
I check the bathroom. Empty. The towels are folded. The counter is clean except for a water spot near the sink that looks recently wiped.
I walk down the corridor toward the common room. Empty. Kitchen. Empty. Training room. Dark. The rotation guard on the second floor tells me she passed him forty minutes ago heading toward the north wing. She didn’t speak. She was carrying the laptop.
The office at the end of the north wing has a strip of light visible under the door. I try the handle.
Locked. From the inside.
I stand in the hallway with my hand on the door handle. Margot is on the other side of a door she locked against me in a building where I hold every key, and the locked door tells me more than anything she’s been hiding for the past two weeks.
She locked me out. Not the building, not the guards, not the operation. Me. She chose a locked door instead of a conversation, and the locked door tells me the conversation would require her to say the thing she’s been hiding.
My first instinct is to force my way in or call Mrs. Varlov, who has a key to every room in the house. That’s what my father would have done.
With a bitter taste in my mouth, I let go of the handle, step back, and wait instead. She’ll let me in when she’s ready, not when I demand it.