Chapter 8
Hidden Alliances
Anya and Thorne form a wary alliance. She shares her decryption methods, while he provides resources to trace the Syndicate's digital footprint.
The rain fell in a steady, gray sheet, painting the city in muted watercolors. Anya stood at the window of the safe house Thorne had arranged—a nondescript apartment in a forgotten corner of the city, where the radiators clanked and the wallpaper peeled like old secrets. She pressed her palm to the cool glass, watching the droplets race each other down the pane. It felt strange to be stationary after days of running, of looking over her shoulder, of seeing Silas Vance’s cold eyes in every shadow.
Behind her, the soft scrape of a chair broke the silence. Thorne had settled at a small table cluttered with laptops, power cables, and a half-empty coffee cup that had long gone cold. He was watching her, she knew, with that patient, assessing gaze that made her feel like a puzzle he hadn’t yet solved.
“You’re thinking about him,” Thorne said. Not a question.
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