Page 55 of Pocket Wife

Lucy moves faster.

I catch her wrist before she crosses the square.

She turns on me, furious. “Let go.”

“No.”

“They have Celia.”

“And they want you to rush in without witness.”

Her anger falters, not gone, but forced to think. Around us, people pour from the meeting hall with recorders still active. Relay screens float in Jessa’s hands. Torren has the main witness feed open on his slate.

Lucy glances at the bakery again.

Celia stumbles. The officer holding her tightens his grip.

The bond flares hot through my nerves.

I release Lucy’s wrist carefully. “Now we enter together.”

We cross the square under fourteen drones and half the valley’s watching eyes.

The Helix officer at the door raises one gloved hand. “This structure is under compliance inspection.”

I stop within recording range. “Identify authorization.”

The officer’s visor shifts toward me. “Specialist Veyr’s independent authority has been restricted.”

“Observation is not restricted.”

“You are obstructing a lawful inspection.”

“You are detaining a protected witness and damaging potential evidence less than forty-eight hours before emergency review.” I lift my comm, already streaming to Kaun’s oversight channel. “Director Kaun, live record begins at 18:22 local. Helix security is present at the private business of covenant witness Celia. Evidence disturbance visible.”

The officer’s posture changes by a fraction.

He did not expect oversight.

Lucy steps beside me. “Let her go.”

Celia’s face is white beneath flour and smoke. Blood marks one sleeve where glass cut through the fabric. Still, she glares at the officer as if he were a badly risen loaf.

“I told them the ledgers were under council copy,” she says.

“They are,” Lucy answers.

The officer releases Celia with a shove meant to look accidental.

I move before Lucy can.

I catch Celia by both shoulders, steady her, and feel how violently she trembles. Human bones are small things. Breakable things. Helix has always known that. It prefers systems until systems fail, then it remembers bodies.

Lucy takes Celia from me. “Are you hurt?”

“My arm. Nothing broken.” Celia looks past her toward the bakery. “They took the old ledger.”

My attention narrows. “The original?”