The contact watches the evidence spread across the steel table: ledgers, the black module, the headquarters photograph, and her seized communication device. The broker remains unconscious in the adjacent chair, head bowed beneath the lamp.
the contact
The ledgers identify Veyra Holdings and the financiers behind the purchase. That is all they identify. They do not name the person who physically planted the module.
Her bound hands flex against the restraints. Her gaze shifts to the locked door, then returns to the device on the table, calculating distance, leverage, and the broker’s continued silence.
the contact
I know who planted it. I know where he works, who paid him, and how he entered the tunnel without appearing on your cameras.
the contact
Give me access to that communication device, and provide a route out of Stellalucens City. In exchange, I give you the planter’s identity.
The communication device rests just beyond her reach, its dark screen reflecting the overhead lamp. No signal escapes the room, and the unconscious broker offers no interruption.
the contact
You can keep the broker. You can keep the ledgers. But if you want the person who touched the module, those are my terms.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the planter’s identity without surrendering control of the investigation