The pieces suddenly clicked all together.
Raizen stared at the hall - at the dark shape behind it, the silhouette of the aircraft sitting against the platform like it had always been there. A stealth engine. Multi-ton capacity. Guards who didn't flinch. Cargo being loaded or unloaded in the middle of the night, in the rain, when everyone was supposed to be asleep.
The Echelon weren't storing their things in the hall.
They were storing them in the aircraft. Always moving. Always ready to disappear. Always safe.
"Saffi" he whispered. "It's the aircraft. Everything - the files, artifacts, whatever they're hiding - it's all in there. That's why the hall's completely empty. That's why the guards don't care about the building. They're protecting that."
Saffi's eyes narrowed. He could see her overthinking again - like she always did, checking his words against the signals Alteea had flagged, against everything they'd observed. Her lips pressed together, then she nodded. Once, short.
