Chapter 72: The Second Leak

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: The Second Leak

The captured attacker from the pavilion ambush proved considerably more resistant to questioning than Lyra had been, three days of careful, methodical interrogation producing little beyond confirmation of what they already suspected, professional training, deliberate compartmentalization, no direct knowledge of the Architect’s actual identity.

"He genuinely doesn’t know," the lead interrogator reported, something frustrated in her clipped assessment during the morning briefing. "Standard operational security. He received orders through an intermediary, never met his actual employer directly."

Ren, three days recovered from the toxin and Vance’s treatment, sat through the briefing with considerably more patience than he’d have managed a week earlier, old instinct toward immediate action tempered now by hard-won understanding of how genuinely complex this investigation had become. "What about the physiological data," he asked. "Did he know anything about how they obtained detailed information about my classification?"

"Nothing directly," the interrogator admitted. "Though he did confirm something useful. The order to use that specific toxin came with explicit instructions regarding dosage and delivery method, considerably more precise than standard operational briefings typically provide. Someone handed them something that required genuine medical or scientific expertise to properly calibrate."

Reven’s expression sharpened at that. "Which narrows our search considerably," he said. "Whoever’s been gathering data on Ren likely has legitimate medical or research access, someone positioned closely enough to properly study his classification without raising immediate suspicion."

"The medical team," Yegard said slowly, something grim settling into his expression. "Everyone who’s examined him since the lost-time episodes first surfaced."

Ren felt cold unease settle into his stomach at the implication. "That’s a lot of people," he said. "The original physician, her staff, now Vance too."

"We’ll need to investigate each of them properly," Reven said, something determined cutting through his evident discomfort at the prospect. "I don’t relish the idea of suspecting people who’ve genuinely helped us, but given everything at stake, we can’t afford to leave any possibility unexamined."

Alouis, who’d joined the briefing partway through, spoke up with her usual practical focus. "I can pull personnel records for the medical staff involved," she offered. "Cross-reference against the same kind of pattern that identified Lyra, unusual placements, falsified credentials, anything that doesn’t properly align."

"Do it," Reven said, something grateful in his tone despite the grim necessity of the task.

The investigation took two more days, careful and methodical, and Ren found himself, despite his earlier instinct toward direct involvement, largely sidelined during this particular phase, the work requiring considerably more bureaucratic patience than his own strengths typically offered. He spent the time instead with Milo and Finn, grateful for the chance to properly reassure them after the pavilion attack’s aftermath had understandably shaken their fragile sense of security.

"You’re really okay," Finn said for perhaps the dozenth time since Ren’s recovery, small hands pressed against Ren’s face as though checking for himself that everything remained properly intact.

"Really okay," Ren confirmed, something warm settling into his chest at the boy’s earnest concern. "Doctor Vance fixed me up properly."

Milo watched the exchange with his usual careful attention, though something in his posture suggested he’d absorbed considerably more of the investigation’s grim details than Ren had intended to share. "They’re still looking for whoever’s really behind this," he said, not quite a question.

"They are," Ren confirmed, deciding honesty served everyone better than false reassurance at this point. "And we’re getting closer. Every piece of information brings us nearer to actually ending this properly."

The breakthrough, when it finally came, arrived through a channel none of them had properly anticipated.

"I found something," Alouis said, interrupting an otherwise quiet evening with obvious urgency, a data pad clutched tight in her hand as she crossed into the common area where Ren, Yegard, and Reven had gathered. "Not in the medical staff’s records. In the researcher’s."

Reven’s expression sharpened immediately. "Vance?"

"Her credentials check out properly," Alouis clarified quickly, "but her consultation history doesn’t. She’s been quietly advising a private research initiative for the past eighteen months, something funded through a shell organization that, after considerable digging, traces back to the same financial network we identified connecting to Castellan’s original technology purchases."

Ren felt his stomach drop sharply. "She’s been reporting on me this entire time."

"Possibly without even realizing the full implications," Alouis said carefully. "The shell organization is sophisticated enough that she may genuinely believe she’s simply consulting on legitimate anomalous Sentinel research, without understanding the actual end use of her findings."

"That doesn’t make it less dangerous," Yegard said grimly, already rising. "Intentional or not, she’s had direct access to exactly the kind of detailed physiological data someone would need to engineer that toxin."

Reven’s jaw tightened, something conflicted passing behind his controlled expression. "I trusted her," he admitted, something raw beneath the words. "She’s advised the Crown on sensitive matters for years."

"Which may be precisely why she was approached in the first place," Alouis said gently. "Legitimate access, genuine expertise, exactly the kind of source that wouldn’t immediately raise suspicion."

They moved quickly, Yegard coordinating a careful, controlled approach rather than the kind of direct confrontation that had characterized Lyra’s exposure, understanding that Vance’s potential innocence regarding the full scope of her research’s actual purpose warranted more careful handling.

She received them in her private quarters within the palace’s medical wing, and Ren watched her expression shift from professional welcome to genuine alarm the moment Reven laid out exactly what Alouis’s investigation had uncovered.

"I didn’t know," she said, something horrified cutting through her usual composed demeanor as the implications settled properly into place. "The consultation seemed entirely legitimate, academic research into anomalous classification patterns. I never once suspected the funding traced back to anything connected to Castellan, or to whatever’s actually been targeting you directly."

"Can you prove that," Reven asked, something careful but not unkind in his tone.

"I’ll give you everything," Vance said immediately, already moving toward her own secured research terminal. "Every report I’ve submitted, every piece of correspondence with my research contact. If they’ve been using my legitimate work to actually target him, I want that stopped as badly as any of you do."

The data she provided, once properly analyzed, offered considerably more insight than any previous evidence had managed, detailed correspondence with a contact identified only as "Director Hess," research requests that, in hindsight, carried obvious, troubling specificity regarding Ren’s exact classification parameters.

"This is them," Reven said, scanning through the correspondence with sharp, focused intensity. "Director Hess. That’s our first genuine lead toward actually identifying who’s behind the Architect title."

Ren felt something settle, grim and determined, into his chest at the fresh momentum. "Can we trace this Director Hess."

"We can try," Alouis said, already pulling up additional resources. "This is considerably more concrete than anything we’ve had before."

Vance, watching the renewed investigative energy with obvious, genuine distress, spoke up again. "I want to help properly," she said. "Whatever this requires, however long it takes, I won’t simply walk away knowing my work contributed to what happened to you."

Ren studied her for a long moment, weighing her evident sincerity against the genuine danger her unwitting involvement had created. "Then help us find them," he said finally, something firm but not unkind in his own voice. "Properly, completely, until this is finished."