The officer exhaled slowly, choosing his words with clinical care. "If he contacts you again and proposes a meeting, you inform us first. We coordinate. We monitor. You don't go off-grid, you don't deviate, and you don't engage unless we're in position."
"And if he disappears again?" Selina asked.
"Then we keep tracking," he replied. "That's the procedure."
Procedure?
She closed her eyes briefly. That word felt hollow now. There was no time on her side.
"I understand," Selina said at last.
But even as she ended the call, she knew the truth. She had initially hoped to lure him out from a distance—let the authorities do the dangerous work while she stayed safely behind the screen. It was the logical move. The safe one.
But now, with the officer's confirmation that her enemy was a ghost in the machine, that safety net had vanished.
