TUESDAY
8:17 A.M. — FEDERAL TECHNICAL FACILITY
The Northstar folder opened.
Nobody spoke.
Aaron Mercer sat perfectly still in front of the isolated workstation.
Rebecca stood behind his left shoulder.
Daniel Reeves stood across the room beside the two technicians documenting every action.
No internet.
No external drives.
No phones.
Every keystroke recorded.
The directory populated slowly.
NORTHSTAR
ARCHIVE PERIOD: 20 YEARS PRIOR
STATUS: CLOSED
Below it were subfolders.
Transportation.
Payments.
Properties.
Personnel.
Proximity.
Aaron's expression changed.
Rebecca noticed.
"What?"
He pointed.
"Proximity."
"You know what that means?"
"Genesis used proximity modeling."
"For what?"
"Originally? Threat assessment. Finding overlaps between subjects, locations, organizations."
Reeves stepped closer.
"And later?"
Aaron looked at the screen.
"Some people started using it prospectively."
"To predict meetings?"
"Sometimes."
"Arrange them?"
Rebecca cut in.
