(Noah)
The city hadn’t fully settled into the day yet when I got back to the compound. Traffic was building but not locked in, and the streets carried that early noise that made movement easier if you knew how to use it. I stepped inside without slowing, already thinking ahead of where we were. What mattered was already moving, and I wasn’t walking into today behind it.
The room was active before I reached it. The board had been updated, fresh sheets pinned under the main layout, and men were already working without waiting for direction. That was how it should be when things started shifting fast. Nobody wasted time looking at me for answers they already knew how to find.
Dante looked up when I walked in, then went back to the board. He didn’t ask anything, which meant he understood wh
