They did not talk about the café.

  That was the rule now. Some things went into a mental drawer and stayed there until they stopped rattling. Lian focused on the road as Kai drove.

  “You want music,” Kai asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “Radio,” he tried.

  “No.”

  He sighed. “You are in one of those moods.”

  “I am always in one of those moods.”

  “That is not true,” he said. “Sometimes you are worse.”

  She almost smiled. Almost.

  They parked three blocks away from the target building.

  Kai checked his watch. “Courier should arrive in six minutes.”

  “Foot or vehicle,” Lian asked.

  “Foot,” Kai said. “Local. Knows the streets. Thinks he is invisible.”

  “Everyone thinks that,” she said.

  They got out and blended into the sidewalk traffic.

  The courier appeared right on time. The backpack pulled tight against his shoulders like it might float away. He walked fast but not fast enough to look suspicious.

  Lian watched him the way she watched everything.

  “That is him,” Kai murmured.

  “I see him,” she replied.

  They followed at a distance that would not get noticed. Kai tracked the cameras with half his attention. Lian tracked people. Who looked twice. Who adjusted their pace. Who stopped pretending to be normal.

  The courier ducked into an alley. Lian did not hesitate.

  Inside the alley it smelled like old rain and oil. The courier reached the service door and fumbled for his keycard.

  Lian stepped close enough that he felt her presence before he saw her.

  “Drop the bag,” she said quietly.

  He turned fast. Too fast. Panic burned in his eyes.

  “I do not want trouble,” he said.

  “Then drop the bag,” she repeated.

  He looked at her. At Kai behind her. At the dead end.

  “I just deliver,” he said. “I do not know anything.”

  “That is rarely true,” Kai said.

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  The courier swallowed. His hands shook as he lowered the backpack.

  “Please,” he said. “I have a sister.”

  Lian froze. Just for a second. A fraction of a breath.

  Kai noticed.

  “Lian,” he said softly.

  She stepped forward and took the bag. She checked the zipper. Inside were sealed drives. Medical labels. LSK signatures stripped down to numbers.

  “You are being paid to move poison,” she said.

  “I am being paid to survive,” the courier replied. “You think I get choices.”

  Kai looked at her. He was not judging. He was asking.

  “We let him go,” Kai said.

  “He will keep doing this,” Lian replied.

  “He will also keep breathing,” Kai said.

  The courier watched them like prey watching hunters argue.

  “Run,” Kai said suddenly.

  The courier did not hesitate. He bolted past them and disappeared into the street.

  Lian stood there. Still. Silent.

  “You are angry,” Kai said.

  “I am focused,” she replied.

  “That is not the same thing,” he said.

  They left the alley before anyone noticed the open door.

  Back in the car Kai opened the bag. “These drives are newer,” he said. “Encrypted differently. Someone higher up changed protocols.”

  “Or someone closer,” Lian said.

  Kai glanced at her. “The doctor.”

  She did not answer.

  They drove to a safe spot overlooking the harbor. Container ships sat like dark cities on water. Lights blinking. Engines humming.

  Kai plugged one of the drives into a secure reader. “This is not trafficking data,” he said. “This is logistics. Routes. Supply chains. Who gets what and when.”

  “For LSK,” she said.

  “For everyone they touch,” he replied. “They are not hiding anymore. They are organizing.”

  Lian leaned against the railing. Wind tugged at her hair.

  “You hesitated back there,” Kai said.

  “I made a decision,” she replied.

  “You almost did not,” he said.

  She looked at him then. Really looked.

  “You think I am losing control,” she said.

  “I think you are human,” he replied. “And that scares you more than any gun.”

  She scoffed quietly. “Do not psychoanalyze me.”

  “I grew up with you,” he said. “I earned the right.”

  She exhaled. Slow. Measured.

  “He said he had a sister,” she said. “People always say that when they are afraid.”

  “And sometimes it is true,” Kai said.

  She nodded once. “That is the problem.”

  They stood there in silence.

  Kai closed the reader. “There is something else.”

  “What,” she asked.

  “Someone pinged our network while we were in the alley,” he said. “Did not breach. Just touched the edge.”

  “LSK,” she said.

  “Maybe,” he replied. “Or maybe someone testing our shadow.”

  “Someone like the woman,” she said.

  Kai grimaced. “She is persistent.”

  “She is good,” Lian said.

  “She is annoying,” Kai replied.

  Lian almost smiled again.

  “We cannot slow down,” Kai said. “They are not.”

  “I know,” she replied.

  He hesitated. “About the doctor.”

  She cut him off. “Do not.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Just know that whatever he is now does not erase who you were.”

  “That is worse,” she said quietly.

  Kai placed a hand on the railing beside hers. Not touching. Just close enough to be felt.

  “We keep going,” he said.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  Below them the city moved on. People went home. People went to work. Somewhere a courier hugged his sister and did not know how close he had come to disappearing.

  Lian watched the lights ripple across the water and felt the weight of every choice sitting exactly where it belonged.