The corridor narrowed, damp walls reflecting the faint glow of overhead bulbs. Puddles stretched along the uneven floor, catching the light in fractured patterns. Every step I took echoed softly, swallowed by the tunnel, but I moved with a calm precision, letting her lead.
Drip… drip… drip.
Kara's eyes flicked to the shadows with practiced ease, scanning for anyone or anything that might follow. She spoke of Syndicate operations, of intel she'd gathered, her tone smooth, deliberate. Every word landed like polished stone, too perfect, too clean. I nodded, masking the tightening coil of suspicion in my chest.
I watched her hands, the subtle hesitation when she gestured toward the ledger, the slight pause before mentioning a supposed double-cross within the factions. Too calculated. Every move she made was a performance, and I had front-row seats.
Step. Splash. Step. Splash.
She hadn't noticed the false names I slipped into our conversation, the phantom contacts I mentioned in passing. I could see it in the brief twitch of recognition in her eyes, the fraction of a second she hesitated before continuing her tale. She believed she was teaching me. I was learning.
She handed me a folder, edges crisp, pages untouched. "Everything you need," she said. "I stole it to hurt them. To help you." Her voice carried conviction, but I filed it away mentally: too easy, too clean.
I lingered on a page, letting her gaze sweep the room while I traced coded annotations, familiar from Rei's earlier warnings. Each number, each letter, each symbol was a subtle footprint, and I traced them carefully, mapping the paths she assumed I hadn't noticed.
She smiled, unaware that the trap she thought she'd set had already turned into a mirror. I whispered nothing, said nothing, only let the corners of my mouth twitch with the faintest acknowledgment of her confidence. The ledger might have been hers to give, but the next move would be mine.
Footsteps echoed faintly from deeper within the Veins, distant, almost imagined. She flinched slightly, but didn't look back. I noted it. Every reaction mattered. Every hesitation was a window into her plan.
As we left the chamber, I kept the folder tucked under my arm, careful, deliberate. Outwardly, I followed. Inwardly, I prepared. The game hadn't changed. Only now, I held the deck.