Page 146 of Fractured Allegiance

Tablet open. Drink untouched. Eyes on the screen like she’s deciding which truths she’ll bury today.

I walk straight up and drop the flash containing the files onto her table.

She doesn’t move.

“Cute,” she says. “No call first?”

“You ignored my last three.”

Naomi looks up. Studies me for half a second longer than she needs to.

Then she plugs in the flash to her tablet.

A few clicks and her thumb stills on the screen.

“You knew,” I say.

“I knew the file resurfaced. I didn’t know why.”

“Bullshit.”

She drops the tablet and leans back, eyes fixed on me. "How did you get this?"

"I have a source inside Bureau cyber."

"That's not an answer." Her voice is sharp now. "You're deep cover. You don't have casual access to Bureau analysts. So how did you really get procurement records and termination logs that are supposed to be restricted?"

I hold her gaze. "I have a contact. Someone I trust. Someone who knows about the leak and took the risk because this matters."

"A name, Silas."

"Not unless you absolutely need it. And only if there's no other way."

Her jaw tightens. "You're asking me to act on intel from an anonymous source while you're already compromised and ignoring protocol."

"I'm asking you to look at the evidence. If it checks out—and it will—the source doesn't matter. But if I give you the name now and the leak traces it back, we lose the source and possibly more."

She stares at me for a long moment, weighing it.

Then she picks up the tablet again, scrolling through the files. Her expression doesn't change, but I see the shift—the moment she realizes the intel is real.

"Fine," she says finally. "I'll verify this independently. But if your source burned me, or if this blows back, you're both done. Understood?"

"Understood."

She drops the tablet and leans back.

“You’re not here to accuse me of being sloppy. So tell me what you actually want.”

I sit. Not to settle. Just to pin her in.

“I want the Bureau logs on Marrow reactivated. Asset reports, travel aliases, dead drops. I want the heat map from his last confirmed operation. I also want a trace on the burner he used near Lydia’s building… You told me I was being watched, so is Lydia.” I pause for a brief moment, “I think Marrow is behind it all… And…”

Naomi lifts one brow as she cuts me off. “You think this is his game?”

“I think someone faked his death and set him loose. And now he’s watching a civilian who shouldn’t even be on his radar. You tell me if that sounds like coincidence.”

She leans forward, elbows on the table now. “Lydia’s not a civilian.”