The two men outside Ashford Clinic did not return the following morning.
Eleanor noticed.
She had expected them.
After what had happened, she had expected the same faces across the street, the same newspapers held at the same angle, the same patient waiting.
Instead...
Nothing.
The street looked ordinary.
Too ordinary.
She watched from behind the clinic window for several minutes.
A delivery van stopped outside.
A woman crossed the road.
A man hurried past with an umbrella.
No watchers.
No unfamiliar faces.
Eleanor should have felt relieved.
She didn't.
Because men who watched someone for days rarely simply lost interest.
Something had changed.
She closed the curtain.
---
Several miles away, inside a rented room above a closed warehouse, the two Syndicate operatives sat opposite a third man.
Their instructions were short.
"You're finished with the doctor."
The younger of the two frowned.
"For how long?"
"Until further notice."
"And the girl?"
