Cafe Kom, Kotto, two in the morning. Nadia alone behind the counter, three screens glowing. She slid two Ngang pods into the machine, double dose, aroma rising like a friendly slap across the face.

She cross-referenced the HALE-2024 tag with the servers seized at Vandenberg. Three hours of queries, and the line appeared. Forty-eight hours before last season's final raid, the entire Sentinel-Kom file had left Vandenberg toward a Swiss cloud. The same one, exactly, that had delivered the KOSCHEI training set.

Nadia set down her cup. The betrayal didn't come from Russia. The third camp Hale had mentioned at the moment of his fall was active, piloted from Zurich.

She traced back the certificates. A name emerged. Meridian Foundation, private entity, classified board of directors.

Quantum channel open to the Sobolev Institute. Message sent. She saved everything on three separate drives, then laid her head on the counter.

Novosibirsk, analysis room. Kom read the message. Irina leaned over his shoulder, breath short.

"Nadia, you don see am before me, chapeau."

Irina didn't answer right away. Her fingers closed around the chair's back.

"My direct superior sits on their board."

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