Elias Brenner moved through The Crest as if he were part of the architecture. Not a person. A fixture. A quiet, polished detail of the building that no one truly saw. He walked with the calm confidence of someone who had never been questioned in his entire career. His expression never shifted. His pace never changed. Everything about him flowed with predictable smoothness.
This made him the perfect place for John to start pulling threads.
John watched him from the elevated glass walkway above the operations floor. His posture was stiff. His expression was unreadable. His eyes followed Elias with the focus of a predator studying prey for the first move.
Morgan stood beside him, holding a tablet. "This man has no emotional fluctuations. His biometric data has been stable for years. Not a single spike in heart rate. Not a single moment of stress. It is almost unnatural."
Celine leaned her arms on the railing. "People like him are built for infiltration. They leave no trails. They create no noise."
Below them, Elias approached an officer and spoke with him in a quiet tone. The officer nodded quickly, clearly intimidated, then hurried away.
Rita sat on a nearby bench, her hands still bandaged but her eyes sharp. "He acts like someone who knows more than he should."
John kept watching. "He acts like someone who hides everything."
Celine checked her screen. "Elias arrived at the building earlier than usual today. No greeting. No conversation. He walked straight to his office and made six private calls."
Morgan frowned. "To whom?"
"No records," Celine said. "But someone wiped the traces. Very neatly."
John exhaled slowly. "That is already enough to suspect alignment with the Circle."
Morgan lifted his eyes. "Ready to confront him."
"No," John said. "We do not confront him. We unsettle him."
Rita blinked. "How?"
John pushed away from the railing. "We break his rhythm."
He headed down to the operations floor. The team followed.
As John approached, whispers rose around them. People tried to look busy. Elias did not flinch. He placed a folder down, straightened it precisely, then turned with a relaxed smile.
"Chief Raymond," Elias said pleasantly. "I heard about the purge attempt. I am grateful you survived."
John studied him closely. "Are you?"
"Of course. The building is unstable without leadership."
John almost smiled. The wording was too careful. Too neutral. Too rehearsed.
"Walk with me," John said.
Elias nodded, falling into step beside him without hesitation. As they moved down the hallway, John noticed something odd. Elias's pace adjusted to his perfectly. Not slower. Not faster. Exactly matched.
People who mirror too cleanly are trained.
John stopped outside an executive conference room.
"Inside."
Elias opened the door for him. "After you, Chief."
John walked in and let the others spread quietly around the table. Elias closed the door, still smiling.
John sat.
"Elias, I have a question."
"Anything."
"Where were you during the purge alarm?"
Elias placed his hands behind his back. "Reviewing maintenance reports on Floor Nine."
"No one saw you there."
"I prefer working in solitude."
John nodded once. "And the archive room."
Elias blinked. "I am sorry. What about it?"
"You visited it last night."
Elias tilted his head calmly. "That is impossible. I have not gone near the archive for months."
Celine stepped forward. "Your silent access log was activated."
Elias gave her a patient smile. "Then someone used my clearance. It happens."
John leaned back. "Someone used your clearance to enter my personal archive room and leave an item on my shelf."
Elias's brow lifted. "An item."
John slid a folder across the table. Inside was a photo of the silver ring.
Elias stared at it without blinking. No muscle twitched. No breath changed. No shock. Nothing.
The lack of reaction was a reaction itself.
Elias looked up. "Do you believe I placed this there?"
John said nothing.
Elias smiled faintly. "Chief Raymond, if I wished to leave you messages, I would choose something less theatrical."
Morgan narrowed his eyes. "Theatrical. Interesting choice of words."
Elias chuckled. "I meant dramatic. I apologise if the phrasing was odd."
Rita whispered under her breath, "He is too smooth."
Celine crossed her arms. "You understand the severity of this situation."
"Fully," Elias said.
"Yet you show no concern."
Elias nodded politely. "Should I be concerned?"
John's eyes sharpened. "Yes."
Finally, Elias shifted slightly. Not fear. Not guilt. Just a subtle realignment of posture, as if adjusting his strategy in real time.
"I see," he said.
John stood slowly. "I am going to ask you one last time. Did you enter my archive room?"
Elias smiled sincerely. "No. And I welcome you to investigate anything you wish. My office. My calls. My logs. My history. You will find nothing but duty."
He made it sound almost like a challenge.
John's jaw tightened. "Very well."
He stepped closer.
"But hear me clearly. If you are involved with the Founding Circle, even in the smallest way, I will find out."
Elias's smile held.
"I expect nothing less from a Raymond."
John's eyes narrowed.
That sentence was not normal.
It was personal.
It carried weight.
It carried knowledge.
And Elias knew exactly what he said.
Morgan stepped forward. "The meeting is over. You may leave."
Elias bowed politely. "As you wish."
He turned, walked to the door, and left the room with the same perfect calm he had entered with.
The moment the door clicked shut, Morgan exhaled sharply. "He is guilty of something."
Celine shook her head. "Or he is the best liar in this building."
Rita leaned forward. "John. Did you see it?"
"Yes."
"What did you see?" she asked.
John stared at the door.
"I saw someone who expected this. Someone prepared. Someone who had a script ready before we even opened our mouths."
Celine nodded slowly. "Meaning he knew the ring would be found."
Morgan added, "Meaning he expected confrontation."
Rita whispered, "Meaning he is the traitor."
John shook his head.
"No."
They all turned to him.
"He is too polished to be the traitor," John said. "He is smart. Controlled. But the traitor inside the building is reckless enough to place the ring on my shelf. That is not Elias's style."
Celine frowned. "Then why target him?"
"Because he knows who the real traitor is," John said. "And he is covering for them."
Morgan's eyes widened. "So he is shielding someone."
"Yes," John replied. "Which means this hunt is deeper than we thought."
Celine asked quietly, "Where do we go next?"
John walked to the ring's image on the screen.
"We follow the shadow Elias is protecting," he said.
"And we expose the one manipulating the Circle from inside my walls."
He turned.
His eyes were cold fire.
"We find the real enemy."