Page 251 of Silent Target

“Progress,” Falcon says.

Fathom pulls up the Archive Seven countdown.

Fifty-nine hours remain.

“We can’t move on Charleston openly,” he says. “Graves will expect Shadow Division.”

Rook looks toward him.

“What do you suggest?”

“Someone who can tell us what kind of attack Whitmore is planning before we walk into it.”

“A counterterrorism analyst?” Sarah asks.

Fathom shakes his head.

“The archive chatter isn’t technical. It’s psychological. Tourist targets. Public panic. Multiple staged messages.”

Evie reads the intercepted fragments.

“He wants people watching when it happens.”

Fathom nods.

“We need a behavioral profiler.”

He enters an isolated FBI database copied from the archive.

One name appears.

Katherine Collins.

Kate.

FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Rook studies the photograph.

“Can we trust her?”

Fathom looks at the screen longer than necessary.

“I intend to find out.”

59

EVIE

Iwrite my resignation by hand.

Not because Langley requires it.

Because I need to see the words on paper.

Twelve years of service cannot be reduced to a paragraph, but my decision can.

I will not return to an institution that concealed the murder of my father and attempted to erase every person who uncovered the truth.