[Ren POV]
By the time Zelda and I left the containment level, the interrogation summary was already being copied and sent to the people who needed it.
Or at least the people Zelda thought needed it.
I was fairly sure that list included half the base.
The foxes remained below ground under guard. Their offer to become my subordinates had not changed anything yet, except giving Zelda another problem to deal with. They were still prisoners, restrained and under constant observation.
The only difference was that they were now prisoners who apparently wanted to follow me home.
I could already imagine Nyx's reaction.
It would probably involve the word fluffy.
Zelda walked beside me while reading through the notes on her tablet.
"You shortened some of the answers."
"I translated for several hours."
"That is not a denial."
"They said a lot of the same things."
"You still shortened them."
"I gave you the important parts."
She looked at me for a moment before returning her attention to the tablet.
"You are attending the strategy meeting."
"Was there a chance I wasn't?"
"No."
"Then why say it?"
"So there is no confusion."
"Fine."
We reached the main operations section a few minutes later.
The meeting room was already filling.
Several officers sat around the long central table while intelligence staff moved between the wall displays. Maps of Gibraltar and Ismaila covered two screens. Another showed the routes and meeting points the foxes had identified, although none had been marked as confirmed enemy bases.
That distinction mattered because the foxes only knew where messages moved, places Khan's followers sometimes used, and several paths and handover points.
They did not know where Khan himself was staying.
Marasuki was already seated near the middle of the table.
She looked at me as I sat down beside her.
"How bad?"
"Depends."
"That usually means bad."
"We learned a lot."
"That sounds good."
"And most of it showed us how much we don't know."
"There it is."
I leaned back while Zelda moved to the front of the room.
Once the doors closed, the conversation around the table slowly stopped.
Zelda looked around the room.
"The prisoners have been questioned separately."
One of the officers raised a hand.
"Both of them cooperated?"
"Eventually."
His eyes moved toward me.
I shrugged.
"They talk more when you can actually understand them."
A few people frowned.
Zelda continued.
"Princess Daimonas was able to communicate with both prisoners using a Demon Realm translation device. Neither prisoner can directly communicate with the rest of us."
That was still weird to hear.
Princess Daimonas sounded more formal than I liked. Commander was easier. Nobody expected commanders to smile at dinner or remember which fork they were supposed to use.
Zelda changed the main display, bringing the two battlefield maps up side by side.
"The attacks against Gibraltar and Ismaila were reconnaissance operations."
The room stayed quiet.
One of the officers leaned forward.
"With those numbers?"
"Yes."
"And those casualties?"
"Yes."
He frowned.
Zelda enlarged the two maps.
"The attacking waves were used to force both strongholds to reveal their response structures."
New markers appeared around the forts as she listed what had been observed.
"Response time, reinforcement routes, shield recovery, command movement, strong combatants, and human-demon coordination."
A general near the far side of the table looked toward me.
"The prisoners confirmed all of that?"
"Separately," I said. "Yes."
"Were the attacking monsters aware they were being used?"
"Some were."
"And the rest?"
"Thought they were trying to win."
Nobody liked that answer.
I didn't either.
Zelda continued.
"The prisoners were observers. Their role was not to participate directly in the main attack or hold territory."
"They were feeding information back during the battle?" someone asked.
"Yes."
"How?"
"Small underground messenger creatures."
That created another round of questions.
Zelda brought up the description from the interrogation. The creatures had four legs, long digging claws, and no visible eyes. According to the male fox, they were intelligent enough to remember and repeat short messages, could move underground, and sometimes collapsed tunnels behind themselves.
One of the engineers stared at the screen.
"How have we never found these?"
"Maybe you have," I said.
The room looked at me.
I pointed toward the reports on the display.
"You find a small tunnel after a battle. What do you assume?"
"Burrowing monster."
"Exactly."
The engineer frowned.
"And now we have to consider that some of those tunnels were communication routes."
"Maybe."
"That word is going to become irritating."
"It already has."
Zelda moved the meeting on.
"The prisoners identified the commander behind the current organization of these monster groups."
The maps disappeared, replaced by a single name.
KHAN.
There was no picture, confirmed species, rank, or location connected to it.
At least the empty spaces were honest.
"The name given by both prisoners was Khan," Zelda said.
One of the intelligence officers immediately started searching his tablet.
"We have references."
The room turned toward him.
"How many?" Zelda asked.
"Hard to say without a full review. The name appears in several old reports, but not consistently."
"Why was it ignored?"
"It wasn't necessarily ignored."
I looked at him.
"That sounds like the beginning of an excuse."
He gave me an irritated look.
"Reports involving monsters are difficult to verify. Names get translated differently. Pronunciation changes. Some units use nicknames. Different species describe the same individual differently."
"Fine."
He continued.
"We also had no reason to connect isolated reports across different regions."
Marasuki leaned forward.
"Do we now?"
"We have enough reason to investigate the connection."
That was the safest answer he could give.
The intelligence officer opened several older references.
The name appeared in different forms. Khan, Kahn, and Kan were the closest versions, while another report used something that translated closer to Great Fang. Nobody knew whether that last one was related or just another monster entirely.
I looked at the mess of names.
"Wonderful."
Zelda glanced at me.
"What?"
"Nothing."
She returned her attention to the room.
"According to the prisoners, Khan appeared in the Human Realm some time ago."
"How long?" one general asked.
"The male prisoner estimated more than one year but less than three."
"Not exactly useful."
"He did not keep a calendar."
That got a few looks.
I ignored them.
Zelda changed the screen again.
A large section of territory appeared, divided by different colors showing old estimates of monster activity. The markings covered pack territories, migration areas, known hunting grounds, and locations where intelligent or humanoid monsters had been reported.
"Before Khan," Zelda said, "the local monster populations were not unified."
"That was already our assessment," someone replied.
"Yes. The difference is that we now have confirmation from individuals who were part of those groups."
She expanded several areas.
"Some groups actively hunted humans. Others defended territory or avoided forts entirely. The prisoners also claim some groups traded with each other, with limited trade between monsters and humans happening in rare cases."
Several officers started talking at once.
One of them looked toward me.
"They traded with humans?"
"That is what the male said."
"Where?"
"He doesn't know human names for most places."
"With who?"
"He doesn't know."
"How often?"
"Rarely."
The officer looked dissatisfied.
I spread my hands.
"That is the answer."
Zelda waited until the room settled.
"Khan changed the local structure. He defeated or intimidated strong leaders and brought different groups under his command."
"Forced?"
"Not always."
She looked toward me.
I took over.
"The male described the choices simply. Join, leave the territory, or refuse."
"And refusing meant?"
"Death."
Nobody asked more about that.
They understood.
I continued.
"Some groups joined because they were afraid. Others joined because Khan promised protection, territory, better hunting grounds, and status."
"Status where?" someone asked.
"That is where things become more complicated."
Zelda brought up the next section of the report.
THE MONSTER REALM.
There was almost nothing beneath the heading.
One of the generals frowned.
"That's it?"
"That is the problem," Zelda said.
I leaned forward.
"The foxes were born in the Human Realm."
The general looked toward me.
"Both?"
"Yes. Their parents were born here too, and they said their grandparents were as well."
"How long has their family been here?"
"They don't know, but it can't be more than about forty years."
"So their information about the Monster Realm is secondhand."
"Mostly."
I looked around the table.
"What they know comes from stories, intelligent monster groups, travelers who crossed realms, Khan's followers, and Khan himself."
"That makes it unreliable."
"Some of it."
"That is a serious weakness."
"It is also all we have."
He did not like that answer.
Neither did I.
Zelda continued.
"The prisoners believe Khan intends to return to the Monster Realm after achieving major victories here."
"For what purpose?"
"Prestige."
That got the same reaction as before.
Confusion.
One of the officers frowned.
"Prestige?"
I nodded.
"Victory carries weight. Territory carries weight. Followers carry weight. Those are the words the male used."
"And what does that actually mean?"
"He doesn't know."
The officer stared at me.
I stared back.
"That is going to be a common answer today."
Another officer leaned forward.
"Does Khan want a military rank?"
"Maybe."
"A noble title?"
"Maybe."
"Political office?"
"Maybe."
"Control of territory?"
"Maybe."
He looked increasingly irritated.
'We would have given you more information if we knew that,' I thought.
"The foxes have never been there. They do not know how the Monster Realm works."
"Then how do they know Khan wants prestige?"
"Because he talks about it."
I repeated the line the male had given us.
"He said Khan would return as more than what he left as."
The room went quiet.
Zelda added, "The female prisoner confirmed the same general motive. Victory, territory, followers, and a name worth remembering."
One of the generals looked at the Monster Realm heading again.
"Who rules there?"
"We do not know," Zelda said.
"Who does Khan answer to?"
"We do not know."
"What rank does he hold?"
"We do not know."
"How many major factions exist?"
"We do not know."
"Is he acting for a government?"
"We do not know."
The general leaned back slowly.
Nobody spoke for a few seconds.
The problem was becoming clear.
We knew why Khan wanted to win, but we did not understand the society that made his goal worthwhile.
Taking Gibraltar might make him important. Destroying Ismaila might make him a legend. It was also possible that nobody in the Monster Realm would care.
We had no way to know which answer was correct.
One of the intelligence officers broke the silence.
"We have fought monsters for decades."
Zelda looked at him.
"Yes."
"And neither prisoner knows enough to answer basic political questions."
"That is correct."
"What about our own intelligence?"
The room became uncomfortable.
The intelligence officer beside him answered.
"We have extensive intelligence on monster species, migration, combat behavior, territory, breeding patterns, and attacks."
"Politics?"
"Limited."
"Leadership?"
"Usually local."
"Government?"
"No confirmed structure."
"Diplomacy?"
"None."
I leaned back.
Humans knew how different monsters hunted and fought. We knew which ones were poisonous, which could fly, and which were strong enough to break through a shield post.
What we did not know was what happened beyond the battlefield or who these creatures considered leaders outside their local groups.
Marasuki tapped a claw lightly against the table.
"Could Khan be lying about the Monster Realm?"
"Yes," I said.
Several people looked toward me.
I continued.
"He could be exaggerating to recruit followers. He could be telling the truth. He could also believe something that isn't true."
Zelda nodded.
"That is why the prisoners' information must be treated carefully."
One of the generals looked at me.
"What do demons know?"
"About Khan?"
"About the Monster Realm."
"I don't know."
That answer caused several eyebrows to rise.
I frowned.
"What?"
"You live there," someone said.
"In the Demon Realm."
"Yes."
"Different realm."
The officer looked slightly embarrassed.
I continued.
"Demons fight monsters too, but I have no idea how much intelligence the Demon King has about their actual society."
Another officer leaned forward.
"Could demon clans be supporting Khan?"
The mood in the room shifted slightly.
A few people looked toward me while others watched Zelda.
I did not get angry.
It was a fair question.
Humans and demons had been killing each other recently enough that nobody was going to forget it because of a few joint missions.
"I doubt it."
"Why?"
"Because House Daimonas rules the Demon Realm. A major clan supporting a foreign military campaign would be difficult to hide."
"Difficult is not impossible."
"No."
The officer looked surprised by the answer.
I continued.
"I said I doubt it. I didn't say I know every demon in existence."
Zelda folded her arms.
"Can you verify it?"
"Yes."
"With the Demon King?"
"Yes."
Zelda looked toward the screen.
"We also need to know whether the Demon Realm has older records of organized monster incursions, intelligent commanders, or political claims that were dismissed as isolated incidents."
"I'll ask."
"Today?"
"After the meeting."
She nodded.
The discussion continued.
The foxes' routes were reviewed, but none were approved as attack targets. The command staff settled on surveillance first, using air observation where possible, distant ground scouts where necessary, and old patrol records to compare activity around each location. Search teams would also investigate possible underground messenger routes without disturbing anything that might still be using them.
One of the officers looked at the map.
"If the prisoners are lying, we waste resources."
"If they're telling the truth and we charge in," I said, "we show Khan exactly how fast we react to new intelligence."
He looked at me.
"He tested the forts once. I'm not volunteering for the second test."
That ended the argument.
The meeting moved to the missing scout parties.
Several teams had disappeared in the weeks before the attacks, and until now, most of them had been assumed dead. After the interrogation, that assumption was no longer safe.
The male fox had heard that at least some had been captured alive, but he did not know how many had survived, where they had been taken, or what information had been extracted from them.
The only thing we could guess was that Khan had learned enough to know members of the Demon Realm's ruling family were being deployed.
He had not known which members were coming or what their exact abilities were. He only knew enough to understand that something important had changed.
Zelda ordered every recent missing patrol reviewed, including their routes, communication logs, what they knew before leaving, and what information they could have exposed if captured.
That changed the way the room looked at the attacks.
Khan may have been gathering intelligence long before Gibraltar.
Eventually, the meeting started circling the same unresolved questions about Khan's location, the size of his force, whether he represented the Monster Realm, and what he planned to do with the information gathered from the two attacks.
None of those questions had answers yet, and I was beginning to hate that problem.
Zelda finally closed the meeting.
"Surveillance begins immediately. Intelligence will review all related records. No strikes on prisoner-provided locations without verification."
Chairs moved back and people started leaving.
Marasuki stood beside me.
"You leaving?"
"For a few hours."
"Bring food back."
I looked at her.
"I have other things to do."
"And?"
"And you want food?"
"Yes."
I stared at her.
She stared back.
"What?"
"You're quite demanding."
"You keep bringing it back."
"That is different."
"How?"
I thought about it.
"It just is."
Marasuki looked unconvinced.
Zelda approached and handed me a copy of the interrogation summary.
"Take this with you."
"I was there."
"It contains the full questions and responses."
I took the tablet.
"Fine."
She nodded once and left to speak with one of the intelligence officers.
Marasuki looked at the tablet.
"More work?"
"Apparently."
"Still bring food."
"You're pushing your luck."
"I don't think I am."
I stared at her for a moment before walking away.
She was probably right.
I returned to my room at Kriti and locked the door behind me.
Nobody had followed me.
Good.
I placed the tablet under one arm, pictured Uwe's palace, and teleported.
The shift between realms still felt different from moving through normal space. For a fraction of a second, everything stretched strangely around me before my boots hit stone.
I looked around and confirmed that I had reached the palace courtyard.
One of the nearby guards looked at me.
"Princess."
I nodded and walked toward the palace.
Uwe was not in the throne room, which immediately improved my mood.
I found him in one of his private offices, sitting behind a desk large enough to serve as a dining table for twenty people.
He looked up when I entered.
"You're back early."
"Temporarily."
"That usually means trouble."
"Why?"
"Because when someone returns without warning, something happened."
"That feels unfair."
"Is it wrong?"
"No."
I sat down across from him and placed Zelda's tablet on the desk.
"Do you know a monster called Khan?"
Uwe looked at me.
"No."
"Any major clans helping monster forces in Africa?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
I narrowed my eyes.
"You didn't think about that."
"I did not need to."
"Why?"
"Because no major clan under my rule is sending enough support to create an army in the Human Realm without my intelligence services noticing."
"That confident?"
"Yes."
I leaned back.
"What about smaller groups?"
"That is a different question."
"Any?"
"Not that I know of."
"Can you check?"
"Yes."
He picked up the tablet.
"You came all the way here to ask two questions?"
"No. Those were just the easy ones."
"That is unfortunate."
He started reading.
I let him.
His expression changed as he moved through the interrogation summary. He stopped at the section about the attacks being tests, then again at the missing scouts, before spending longer on the section about Khan's motive.
Finally, he placed the tablet down.
"Prestige."
"That's what they believe."
"Through conquest."
"Yes."
"And then he returns to the Monster Realm."
"Yes."
Uwe leaned back.
"Interesting."
"That is not the word Zelda used."
"What word did she use?"
"She mostly stared at things."
Uwe looked at the report again.
"The important part is that the foxes have never been to the Monster Realm."
"Yes. Their parents were born in the Human Realm too."
"So everything they know about Monster Realm society is secondhand."
"Stories, travelers, Khan, and his followers."
"Exactly."
Uwe tapped one finger against the report.
"You want to know whether we have better information."
"Yes."
He was quiet for a moment, which did not fill me with confidence.
"How much do you know?"
"Personally?"
"Yes."
"Very little."
I frowned.
"You're serious."
"Yes."
"You rule an entire realm."
"The Demon Realm."
"I know that."
"Then why are you surprised?"
"Because I expected more than very little."
Uwe looked annoyed.
"Demon forces have fought monsters before."
"I know."
"We have intelligence records covering species, migration, combat behavior, territorial patterns, and captured individuals."
"Politics?"
He stopped.
"Limited."
"How limited?"
"I would have to see the archives."
"That sounds familiar."
Uwe frowned at me.
I smiled slightly.
"Sorry."
"You are not."
"No."
He stood and moved toward the window behind his desk.
Nhal Rha stretched beyond it, filled with roads, towers, and traffic moving through the city below.
I looked outside for a moment before turning back to Uwe.
"We both made the same mistake."
He glanced toward me.
"What mistake?"
"Humans studied how to kill monsters, and demons mostly did the same."
"That is an oversimplification."
"Is it wrong?"
Uwe was quiet for a moment.
I smiled slightly.
"That answer means no."
"Do not become irritating."
"Too late."
He returned to the desk.
"We attempted communication with intelligent monsters."
"What happened?"
"Different things. Some refused. Some attacked. Some could not communicate with us, while others knew very little outside their own territory."
"Humans have similar records."
"I assumed they would."
"Humanoid monsters?"
"Yes."
"How many?"
"I don't know. We do know there are more humanoid monster populations in the Monster Realm than the number currently present in Africa."
I frowned.
"But you don't know how they fit together."
"No."
"Governments?"
"Nothing reliable."
"Major factions?"
"Not enough to call confirmed."
"So we know they exist, but not how their society works."
"That is the problem."
Uwe looked down at the report again.
"The concerning part is not that Khan wants status."
"No?"
"It is that neither of our realms knows whether his plan is normal."
I nodded.
That was exactly it.
Conquest might be how Monster Realm leaders rose, or Khan could be doing something unusual. He might be trying to return home as a hero or gathering enough power to challenge someone already above him.
We had no idea which possibility was closest to the truth.
Uwe activated the communication system on his desk.
"Get me the intelligence chief."
A voice answered immediately.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Then he opened another channel.
The second call took longer to connect.
Duke White appeared on the screen and looked like he had been interrupted in the middle of something.
"Your Majesty."
"White."
His eyes moved slightly.
"Princess."
I nodded.
"Hello."
White stared at me for a moment longer than necessary.
Then he looked toward Uwe before returning his attention to me.
I knew exactly what he was thinking.
I had been deployed at Kriti.
The normal route between realms went through the Sazanami Gate.
I had not passed through it.
Yet I was standing beside Uwe.
White was smart enough to put those pieces together without anyone explaining it.
Wonderful.
His expression barely changed, but I saw the moment he understood.
One more person knew.
Uwe either did not notice or decided not to mention it.
He got directly to the point.
"Have you encountered any reports connecting demon clans, private military groups, traders, or political representatives to a monster commander called Khan?"
Duke White's attention shifted back to him.
"No."
"Certain?"
"Of the name? Yes."
"What about organized support to monster forces in Africa?"
"Nothing authorized."
"That was not the question."
White leaned back.
"I know."
He thought for several seconds.
"Not through my people."
"Check."
"I will."
"Old trade contacts as well."
White nodded.
"Is this connected to the attacks?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll prioritize it."
His eyes moved toward me once more before the call ended.
I looked at Uwe.
"He noticed."
"Yes."
"You knew?"
"Of course."
"You could have warned me."
"You arrived unannounced."
"That is unrelated."
"It is not."
I narrowed my eyes.
Uwe ignored me.
A knock came at the office door before I could continue.
The intelligence chief entered carrying two tablets and stopped when she saw me.
"Princess."
"Hello."
Uwe pushed Zelda's tablet toward her.
"Read."
She went through the report quickly.
When she finished, she looked toward me.
"The prisoners were questioned separately?"
"Yes."
"By you?"
"I was the only one who could understand them."
"Both answers matched?"
"On the important parts."
She looked back at the report.
"Their Monster Realm knowledge is not firsthand."
"No."
"Then it should not be treated as confirmed cultural intelligence."
"I know."
Uwe looked toward her.
"What do we have on organized monster societies?"
She paused before answering.
"Regional intelligence. Pack structures. Territorial dominance. Some humanoid communities. Several intelligent commanders."
"Political structures?"
"Very little confirmed."
"Leadership beyond local regions?"
"Fragmentary reports."
"Monster Realm government?"
"Nothing I would call reliable."
Uwe folded his arms.
"I want a full review."
The intelligence chief nodded.
"Of which archives?"
"All relevant ones."
"That is a large amount of information."
"Use more people."
She did not argue.
Uwe continued.
"Review captured testimony, reports involving intelligent monsters, humanoid sightings, migration records, repeated names, organized incursions, and any claims involving rank, territory, conquest, leadership, or returning to the Monster Realm."
The intelligence chief started making notes.
"Anything else?"
"Yes. Include reports that were dismissed because they did not fit known local behavior."
She nodded again.
"Coordinate relevant findings with Kriti."
Her eyes moved toward me.
"The human command?"
"Yes," Uwe said.
"Fully?"
"Anything relevant to the current threat."
"Understood."
She picked up the interrogation report again.
"What about the prisoners?"
I answered before Uwe could.
"They're cooperating."
"For now?"
"Yes."
"And their current status?"
"Complicated."
She looked at me.
I looked at her.
Uwe frowned.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
The intelligence chief checked the final section of the report.
"The final note says they requested to serve the Princess."
Uwe slowly looked at me.
"Recent development."
"You were in the Human Realm for a few days."
"Yes."
"And you already adopted two monsters."
"They're not adopted."
"That does not make this better."
"They're provisional subordinates."
Uwe rubbed his forehead while the intelligence chief wisely stayed out of the conversation.
"What exactly does provisional mean?" Uwe asked.
"They're still under guard, they answer questions, and they agreed to follow orders and not attack my people."
"Only one of those conditions is currently confirmed."
"I know."
"You brought two monsters home in theory before asking anyone."
"I haven't brought them home."
"Yet."
I said nothing.
Uwe stared at me.
I stared back.
The intelligence chief kept her attention on her tablet.
Eventually, Uwe sighed.
"Fine."
"That was easier than expected."
"That was not approval."
"It sounded close."
"It was not."
"Fine."
The intelligence chief cleared her throat.
"I will begin the archive review."
"Do that," Uwe said.
She left quickly.
I stood.
"I should go back."
Uwe looked at the interrogation report again.
"Tell the human command we will share relevant findings."
"I will."
"And Ren."
I stopped.
"Be careful with the prisoners."
"I know."
"They switched loyalty quickly."
"I know."
"That does not automatically mean betrayal, but it also does not mean loyalty."
"I know."
He stared at me.
I stared back.
"You are difficult to advise."
"I hear that a lot."
"I wonder why."
I picked up Zelda's tablet.
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Do not bring them into the palace without warning."
I thought about it.
"They probably won't fit through most doors."
"That is not comforting."
I smiled and teleported away.
I landed back inside my room at Kriti.
The door was still locked.
Good.
I put the tablet under my arm, unlocked the door, and headed back toward operations.
By the time I reached the operations room, Zelda was standing over the main table with three intelligence officers while new searches ran across the screens.
They were already checking missing patrols, old monster reports, burrower sightings, and repeated names.
I walked over.
"No major demon clans are involved."
Zelda looked up.
"Certain?"
"The Demon King is."
"And smaller groups?"
"They're checking."
"Duke White?"
"He is checking his contacts, trade routes, and older reports."
She nodded.
"What does the Demon Realm know about Monster Realm society?"
I looked at the screens.
"Not enough."
"How bad?"
"Different information. Same problem."
She waited.
"They have records of intelligent monsters, commanders, migrations, captures, humanoid sightings, and organized attacks. They also know there are larger humanoid monster populations in the Monster Realm than what we currently see in Africa."
"But no clear political structure."
"No."
"Government?"
"Nothing reliable."
"Major factions?"
"Same problem."
"Who Khan might answer to?"
"No idea."
Zelda went quiet.
I placed the interrogation tablet on the table.
"The Demon King ordered a full archive review."
"Everything relevant?"
"Captured testimony, communication attempts, organized incursions, migration, repeated names, and old reports involving rank, territory, conquest, or returning home."
Zelda nodded slowly.
"We'll do the same."
One of the intelligence officers looked up.
"That will take time."
Zelda turned toward him.
"Then start now."
He immediately looked back at his screen.
The map of Gibraltar remained open on one side of the main display, with Ismaila on the other and the foxes' routes marked between them. The routes were still under observation, with no attack orders issued.
For the first time, humans and demons were not only asking where the next monster attack would happen.
They were asking who had organized the attacks, why conquest mattered to him, what kind of society he wanted to return to, and whether old reports had been trying to tell us something for years.
Zelda closed one file and opened another.
"This is going to be ugly."
"Probably."
"How many records do you think were overlooked?"
"I don't know."
She looked at me.
I sighed.
"I'm starting to hate that answer."
"So am I."
I looked over the growing list of old reports.
The foxes had given us a name.
Khan.
That was more than we had yesterday, but now we had to find out what that name was attached to.