The investigation room inside the Kings of Ruin clubhouse no longer resembled the place where we had once planned to expose the Architect because every wall now carried new evidence, fresh timelines, and carefully organized files connected to Atlas instead.
The old boards remained along one side of the room, separated by a thick red line Casey had drawn across the center. On the left stood the past.
Architect, recovered compounds, arrests, evidence and trials. On the right stood the future. Atlas. Unknown identities, private contractors, missing employees and surveillance.
Children whose names had yet to be recovered. The distinction mattered. One investigation had ended and the other had only just begun.
Morning sunlight filtered through the clubhouse windows while everyone quietly s
