The Director called the meeting at 07:00.
No advance notice.
That was always the sign.
Rian was in his chair before the others arrived, notebook closed on the table in front of him, coffee untouched.
He'd been awake since 04:30.
Not because of anxiety exactly.
More the particular wakefulness of someone who had made a decision in the night and was now simply waiting for the day to catch up with it.
The others filed in.
Patrol liaisons.
Arcus engineers.
Keln, who never smiled before noon and sometimes not after.
The Director last, which meant he'd been standing outside the door for thirty seconds deciding how to enter, which meant he already knew what he was going to say and wanted the room to feel it before he said it.
Rian recognized the performance.
He'd used it himself once.
"K-L," the Director said, without sitting.
He tapped the central screen.
The heatmap appeared.
Two nodes, warm and insistent: Laundry Two's sector, Site B's market basement.
