Dust sifts from the ceiling as the command room shudders. The exit remains sealed, and the console glow paints Psyche Delic in sickly green. Amilia keeps the routing sheets up like a warrant, and Devlan and The Rose hold the angles.
Psyche Delic
No, no... not here. Not with proof.
Sally
Tell us who is sending the cleanout team.
Sally’s hands crackle brighter. Psyche flinches, then presses one palm to his scarf as if steadying himself. The lights flicker once, weakly, around his fingers.
Psyche Delic
The Department. Records wing routing, then disposal. I only pass names and doors, that is all I am allowed to be.
Amilia Jacobs
Not good enough. Who gave you Sally's trail?
Psyche Delic
A courier shell. I never met the handler, just the drop codes. Front Street was only one branch of it.
A hard thump shakes the hallway outside. Red warning light bleeds under the door seam. Somewhere beyond the walls, boots and radios are closing fast.
The Rose
We have seconds. Talk, Psyche, or we start breaking the room open.
Psyche Delic
Wait... there is a name on the next packet. Juniper Vale. She is not the head, but she is the hinge.
Extract the final location of the Department's command hub