Shock leaves residue.
Patterns.
Timing misalignments.
Acceleration points that don't match natural process.
And residue
when traced
leads somewhere.
It started with a timestamp.
Adrian noticed it first.
"The directive draft circulated to committee members forty-eight hours before public release," he said quietly.
"That's standard," I replied.
"Yes," he said. "But the competitor statement was drafted seventy-two hours before public release."
Silence.
Seventy-two.
Before the committee had even finalized language.
"You're certain?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Source?"
"Cross-reference metadata leak from industry briefing archive."
He slid the tablet across the table.
Draft timestamp.
Internal talking points.
Prepared language aligning almost perfectly with final directive phrasing.
Not similar.
Identical in structure.
"They had pre-decisional access," Daniel said slowly.
"Yes," Adrian replied.
"And that implies?"
"Influence."
Influence isn't illegal by default.
