The floating script text said Joan Sawyer would be in her office at 06:00 burning something black.
Soren didn't tell anyone that.
He got dressed at five-fifteen, told Grimm to stay, and walked to the Bureau wing.
He needed a reason to be there that wasn't "I can read tomorrow's events in the air."
So he picked the one Joan would actually buy: the Verath Seed.
Second site active, Bureau intel, she'd been running the data all week.
Showing up early to pressure her for an update was the kind of thing he did and she knew it.
◆◆◆◆
He knocked twice.
It was silent until the sound of something heavy being set down.
"It's not six," Joan said.
"I want the updated coordinates of Verath."
Another silence. He heard the lock disengage.
She opened the door in her shirtsleeves, jacket thrown over the chair behind her, her hair still in yesterday's knot.
The metal bin on her desk had two folders already gone to ash. Her right hand was behind her back.
"You're early," she said.
