The discovery of Elias Korr's connection to the Vane network sent shockwaves through the prosecution team that none of them could fully absorb. Maeve watched the faces around the conference table as Sabine laid out the evidence: financial records, intercepted communications, the intricate web of shell companies that led back to the former intelligence director. Helena Vance sat motionless, her steel-gray eyes fixed on the screen, her expression unreadable. Isolde stood by the window, her arms crossed, her jaw tight. Niamh and Anya sat together near the door, their hands intertwined.
"This is bigger than we prepared for," Vance said finally. "We came here to prosecute a surrogacy operation. What you're showing me is a conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of the Archipelago's intelligence apparatus."
"It's the same conspiracy," Isolde said. "Korr was protecting Vane. In exchange, Vane was funding Korr's operations. The surrogacy network and the intelligence network are two branches of the same tree."
Vance nodded slowly. "Then we need to decide how to proceed. The preliminary hearing is six days away. We can proceed with the evidence we have against Vane and Holt, or we can expand the scope of the prosecution to include Korr and his associates."
"If we expand the scope, the case gets bigger and more complicated," Sabine said. "Korr has resources Vane could only dream of. He has former agents who owe him loyalty. He has access to classified information that could compromise our investigation. And he's been watching us for weeks."
Maeve pulled out her notebook and wrote: "What does Korr want?"
The question hung in the air. Isolde turned from the window.
"He wants us to stop. The photograph he sent was a warning. He's telling us that if we keep digging, we'll end up like Liria."
"Then he's afraid," Niamh said. "If he wasn't, he wouldn't bother warning us. He'd just eliminate us."
"Or he's buying time," Vance said. "The preliminary hearing is a public event. If Korr acts against us before then, it will draw exactly the kind of attention he doesn't want. But after the hearing, when the media attention shifts to the trial itself, we become more vulnerable."
The room fell silent. Outside, the afternoon sun was beginning to sink toward the rooftops, and the protesters in the streets were lighting their evening candles. Maeve could hear their songs through the warehouse windows, a low, mournful melody that seemed to seep into the walls themselves.
"We need to find Matron Voss," Isolde said. "She's the key to all of this. She knows the connection between Vane and Korr. She knows where the bodies are buried, literally and figuratively. If we can convince her to testify, we can authenticate the evidence and expose the full scope of the conspiracy."
"Swift's task force has been searching for three weeks," Vance said. "Every port, every airport, every border crossing. There's been no sign of her."
"Then she's still in the Archipelago," Sabine said. "If she had fled the country, we would have found a record of it. She's hiding somewhere, waiting for the right moment to escape."
Maeve wrote: "Or waiting for someone to come for her."
The others read the words, and Isolde's eyes widened. "Korr. He promised to extract her. That's why she hasn't tried to cross the border on her own. She's waiting for Korr's people to get her out."
"If that's true, we don't have much time," Vance said. "Korr's network is designed for exfiltration. He could have assets in place to move her within hours."
"Then we need to find her before he does," Niamh said.
Sabine turned back to her computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "I've been monitoring the communications networks that Korr's people used when they were active. Most of the channels are dead, but there's a signal I've been tracking for the past two days. It's encrypted, but the pattern matches the protocols Korr's agents used during his time at the intelligence service."
"Where is the signal coming from?" Isolde asked.
"That's the interesting part. It's not coming from the capital. It's coming from the southern province, near the coast. A small town called Brackenhollow."
The name meant nothing to Maeve, but she saw Niamh's expression change. "Brackenhollow? That's where Declan Byrne lives. Sorcha's brother."
The coincidence was too precise to be accidental. Declan Byrne, who had accepted Vane's money and filed a complaint against Maeve for accessing Sorcha's safety deposit box. Declan Byrne, who lived in a small coastal town that was now broadcasting encrypted signals matching Korr's old protocols.
"That's where she is," Isolde said. "Voss is hiding in Brackenhollow. Declan Byrne is probably sheltering her."
"Or she's using his property without his knowledge," Vance said. "Either way, we need to move quickly. I'll contact Swift and have him assemble a team."
"There's no time for a team," Isolde said. "If Korr's people are already communicating with Voss, they could extract her at any moment. We need to go now. Just us."
Vance shook her head. "Absolutely not. You're not law enforcement. You're a consultant to the prosecution. If you try to apprehend Voss yourself, you could compromise the entire case."
"If we wait for Swift to assemble a task force and travel to Brackenhollow, Voss will be gone," Isolde said. "I'm not going to lose her again."
She looked at Maeve, and something passed between them. A question. An answer.
"I'm coming too," Niamh said.
"And me," Anya added, her voice steadier than Maeve had ever heard it.
Vance looked at them, at the four women who had already survived more than any witness should have to endure. Then she sighed.
"Go. But take a phone. And if you find Voss, do not engage with her directly. Call Swift and wait for backup."
Isolde nodded. "We will."
They left the warehouse within the hour, piling into Margaret's battered sedan with a map of the southern province and a photograph of Matron Voss that had been pulled from the Vane Institute's personnel files. Margaret drove, her weathered hands steady on the wheel, her eyes fixed on the road ahead.
"Brackenhollow is four hours south," she said. "We'll arrive after dark."
"That might be better," Isolde said. "Voss won't be expecting us. If we can approach the town quietly, we might catch her before Korr's people arrive."
Maeve pulled out her notebook and wrote: "What's our plan when we find her?"
Isolde read the question and was silent for a moment. "We talk to her. We tell her that Korr is using her as bait. That once she's no longer useful, he'll eliminate her the same way he eliminated Liria. We convince her that her only chance of survival is to cooperate with us."
"And if she doesn't believe us?" Niamh asked.
"Then we make sure she can't run. We hold her until Swift arrives."
The car sped south through the fading afternoon, past farmland and coastal marsh and the occasional village clustered around a stone church. The landscape grew wilder as they traveled, the cultivated fields giving way to heath and gorse and the gray, windswept emptiness of the southern coast. The sky darkened, and the first stars began to appear.
Brackenhollow was a small town huddled around a sheltered harbor, its stone houses clinging to the slopes of a narrow valley. The streets were empty when they arrived, the residents shuttered behind their doors against the cold sea wind. A single pub glowed at the end of the main street, its sign creaking in the gusts.
"There," Sabine said, pointing to a house on the edge of town. It was a modest cottage of gray stone, its windows dark, its chimney smokeless. But parked in the driveway was a black sedan, its tinted windows revealing nothing.
"That's Declan Byrne's house," Isolde said. "And that car doesn't belong to a fisherman."
Margaret parked the sedan behind a row of abandoned fishing sheds and killed the engine. The five women sat in the darkness, watching the cottage.
"What now?" Niamh asked.
"We wait," Isolde said. "If Voss is inside, someone will come for her eventually. When they do, we'll see who we're dealing with."
They waited. The minutes stretched into an hour, and the hour stretched into two. The wind howled through the narrow streets, and the sea crashed against the harbor wall, and the cottage remained dark and silent.
Then, just before midnight, headlights appeared on the coast road. A vehicle was approaching, moving fast. It turned into the driveway of the cottage and stopped. Two men climbed out. They were dressed in dark suits, and they moved with the efficient, predatory grace of men who had done this many times before.
"Korr's people," Isolde breathed.
The men knocked on the cottage door, and it opened immediately. A figure appeared in the doorway, silhouetted against the dim light from inside. Matron Voss.
"Now," Isolde said. "Before they get her into the car."
They moved. Isolde led the way, her revolver drawn. Niamh and Anya followed, their faces pale but determined. Maeve walked behind them, her notebook clutched in her hand, her silent voice screaming in her chest. Margaret stayed with the car, the engine running, ready to flee if everything went wrong.
"Matron Voss!" Isolde called, her voice cutting through the wind. "Stop!"
The men in dark suits turned, their hands reaching for their weapons. But Voss raised a hand, stopping them.
"Procurator Vex," she said, her voice carrying the same cold, professional calm that Maeve remembered from Thistle Cay. "I was wondering when you would find me."
"It's over, Voss. Korr isn't coming to rescue you. He's sending men to silence you. Look at them. They're not here to extract you. They're here to make sure you never testify."
The two men exchanged a glance, and in that glance, Maeve saw the truth. They were not here to rescue Voss. They were here to eliminate her.
Voss saw it too. Her cold blue eyes flickered, and for the first time since Maeve had met her, she looked uncertain.
"You're lying," she said, but her voice was less steady now.
"Ask them," Isolde said. "Ask them what their orders are. Ask them what happened to Liria Vex."
The men moved. One of them lunged toward Voss, a syringe appearing in his hand. But Voss was faster. She stepped aside, her hand darting into her coat, and when it emerged, she was holding a small pistol.
"Don't," she said.
The man with the syringe froze. His companion raised his own weapon, but Voss's gun was already pressed against the first man's temple.
"Drop it," she said. "Both of you."
The weapons clattered to the ground. Isolde moved forward, her revolver trained on the men.
"Voss," she said. "It's over. Korr has betrayed you. Your only chance is to cooperate with us. Testify against Vane, against Holt, against Korr. We can offer you protection."
Voss's expression was unreadable. For a long moment, she said nothing. Then she lowered her pistol.
"I've been waiting for this," she said quietly. "For thirteen years, I've been waiting for someone to come. Someone to stop the machinery I helped build."
She looked at Isolde, and her eyes were no longer cold. They were tired.
"Your sister was a brave woman. She tried to stop Vane before anyone else. I was the one who told Korr about her. I was the one who signed her death warrant."
Isolde's hand trembled on the revolver. "You killed her?"
"No. Korr's people did. But I gave them the information they needed to find her. I've lived with that guilt for thirteen years." She looked at Maeve, at Niamh, at Anya. "I've lived with all of it. The women. The babies. The lies. I'm ready for it to end."
Swift's task force arrived an hour later, summoned by Margaret's phone call. They took the two men into custody and secured the cottage. Voss surrendered without resistance, her cold composure finally cracking as she was led to the patrol car.
"I'll testify," she said to Isolde. "About everything. Vane. Holt. Korr. The clients. The network. I'll give you everything."
Isolde nodded, her face pale but her eyes steady. "Then we might actually win this."
As the patrol cars pulled away into the darkness, Maeve stood at the edge of the harbor, watching the sea churn against the stones. The wind was cold, and the stars were bright, and somewhere in the capital, Aldric Vane was waiting in his cell, unaware that the last pillar of his empire had just crumbled.
She pulled out her notebook and wrote: "One more week. One more week until the hearing."
Niamh appeared beside her. "Do you think it will be enough? Even with Voss's testimony?"
Maeve thought about the question. She thought about Korr, still out there. She thought about the clients, still protected by their wealth and power. She thought about the network, still intact, its tendrils stretching across continents.
She wrote: "It won't be enough to finish the fight. But it will be enough to start it."
And then she closed her notebook and walked back to the car, where the others were waiting.
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