Nobody slept much that night.
The underground terminal stayed quiet around them, but the silence felt different now.
Before, it had felt abandoned.
Now it felt like a place holding its breath.
The missing containers changed everything.
Elena sat at the long table inside the security office, surrounded by manifests and inspection reports. Every document pointed toward the same period.
The final year.
The final months.
The final shipment.
Alexander stood near the wall map they had recovered from one of the storage rooms.
Colored route lines stretched across the region.
Most ended at warehouses they knew.
Some connected to facilities that no longer existed.
One route stood apart from the others.
Corridor Seven.
Again.
Always Corridor Seven.
Mateo walked in carrying another box of files.
"I found more transport records."
Julian looked up from his laptop.
"Anything useful?"
"I don't know yet."
Mateo dropped the box onto the table.
Dust rose into the air.
