Venci keeps his hands close to the damaged terminal, threading a covert tap through its maintenance interface. The copied Benedict credential becomes bait, slipping beneath the registry’s broken surface.
A deeper layer opens in flickering columns. Recent relay traffic streams through: a live Kadab-linked watcher is querying the client’s route and the copied Benedict mark.
The passed-out client remains restrained by his torn hoodie beneath the kiosk light, awake now and rigid. Warren guards the booth, one hand near his pistol, his eyes moving between the market lanes and the terminal.
Warren
Keep the tap quiet. If that watcher feels the hook, we lose the trail before we learn where it leads.
The relay answers with a fresh query, then pauses. The watcher has not broken the connection, but its request now carries a destination tag buried beneath Kadab’s maintenance account.
The Passed-Out Client
That tag is not mine. I have seen it once before, right before my account went delinquent.
The destination resolves only halfway before the terminal asks for a second credential. Warren watches Venci’s hands, while the live watcher continues waiting on the open line.