The rhythmic tapping on the steel bulkhead—thump-thump-thump... pause... thump—stopped as abruptly as it began. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic echo of the Librarian's Knock. On a ship owned by the Circle, that sound was either a lifeline or a death sentence. I gripped the heavy brass lamp, my only weapon in this iron coffin, and pressed my ear against the freezing metal.
"Elias," a woman's voice whispered through the ventilation duct. It wasn't Vesper. This voice was raspy, exhausted, and lacked the cold precision of the Circle's handlers. "Don't open the door. The deck officer is a Sentinel. If he sees light in the hallway, we're both dead."
I froze. "Who are you? How do you know the knock?"
"I was Jeffrey's primary researcher before they 'retired' him," she replied, her breath hitching. "My name is Maya. I've been hiding in the ballast tanks since the Pier. Jeffrey told me if the Circle ever fell, an Auditor would come looking for the Empty Center. He said you'd be carrying the Black Ledger."
I slowly lowered the lamp, but I didn't relax. In this world, trust was a luxury I had burned back at the safe house. "The Eraser told me the Center is a trap. Why are you heading straight for it?"
"Because it's not just a place, Elias. It's a server farm," Maya hissed, her voice growing urgent as footsteps heavy with authority echoed in the distant corridor. "The coordinates in the Indian Ocean lead to an underwater data hub. It holds the original, unedited ledgers—the ones from before the Great Alignment. It's the only evidence that can prove the One World Order isn't a natural evolution of history, but a forced coup. But there's a catch."
The footsteps grew louder, stopping right outside my cabin door. The handle rattled.
"The catch is," Maya whispered, "the Circle knows we're coming. They didn't follow you, Elias. They ushered you here. We aren't hunting them. We're delivering the Ledger back to the vault they lost it from."
The door groaned as a master key turned in the lock. I looked at the Black Ledger on my cot and then at the dark vent. I had to decide: keep running, or trust the ghost of Jeffrey Esteem's past.