Dallas slips the bent keycard into the records oversight lock. The steel door clicks, then swings inward on a sigh of cold air and paper dust.
Inside, Hart’s office is a cage of files and blinking green lamps. A half-open cabinet shows a routed chain pinned to index cards, names feeding names like veins to a heart.
Adrian Pike
That’s it. That’s his whole machine. One ledger, one routing chain, and a dozen clerks doing the dirty work.
Elena moves to the doorway, checking the hall. Her shadow cuts across the ash scattered on the desk, where a fresh memo sits beside a stamped transfer order with Dallas’s initials on it.
Dallas Fontaine
Hart has already started the paper kill.
Professor Dayton
The routing card proves the route, but that order proves intent. If Hart filed you, he can unfile everyone you came with.
Outside, headlights wash the frosted glass white for one brief second. On the desk, the transfer order trembles in the draft, waiting for Dallas to decide whether to seize Hart’s chain or burn the office down.
“I grab the three items from the desk memo, order and ledger.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Dallas slides in, snatches the memo, transfer order, and ledger in one clean motion, then tucks them under his coat before the desk can even stop trembling.
Adrian Pike
There. That is the chain. Hart signs, clerks move it, and everyone else pretends not to see.
Professor Dayton
The ledger is the spine. The order is the blade. Together, they name the hand behind Elena’s test.
Elena Vane
So it is paper. Not instinct. Not faith. Paper.
Elena steps closer to the doorway, eyes fixed on Dallas’s coat where the evidence disappears. Her posture tightens, but she does not move to stop him.
Outside, headlights sweep the frosted glass again, and a shadow crosses the hall beyond Elena’s shoulder. The office feels smaller for it.
Adrian Pike
If you’ve got the ledger, move. Hart will notice the gap fast.
Quest Complete
Expose the handler behind Elena
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb