What it looked like the strategy room was quiet except for the faint squeak of Ren's marker as he cross-checked the whiteboard. Names, dates, locations, everything Astrid had wrung out of the captured Traitors was written in her neat red handwriting. He stopped at the top line and muttered under his breath.
"So the woman everyone thinks is in charge is just a puppet. The real boss is imposter Lan Jia… who never even talks to them directly."
Astrid leaned against the wall, arms folded, one finger tapping her chin. "Exactly what I heard too," she said softly. "Every Traitor I pulled back from the edge said the same thing. Orders come through notes, dead drops, encrypted voice messages to their leader never face to face. Lan Jia is a ghost to everyone."
