Chapter 26 The File

• The safehouse hums low around them — Decker’s boots thumping upstairs, the clink of old pipes behind the walls like half-whispered secrets no one wants to admit they heard.
• Knox stands at Bishop’s shoulder — arms folded tight, jaw ticking like he’s trying not to bite the edge of the old plywood table Bishop’s laptop hums on.
• The screen glows dull blue against Bishop’s glasses — half-code, half-blank pages that shouldn’t be blank at all.