Page 172 of Mercy Written in Blood

Kael looked at him.

"The White Lotus and those they believed would survive them."

Renji felt unease move slowly through him.

"Who were they?"

"That answer is buried for a reason."

"People are dying for it."

"People died to create it."

Renji stepped closer.

"Does the Unveiled want the Archive destroyed?"

Kael's eyes moved to the photograph on the table.

"No."

The answer altered everything.

"They burned the chamber."

"They destroyed what they did not want recovered."

"And removed the rest."

"Yes."

"So they are searching for something."

Kael opened the door.

"For someone."

Renji stared at him.

"Who?"

Kael stepped into the corridor. Then he paused and looked back towards the apartment — the second chair, the two cups, the record shelf disturbed by an evening Renji still refused to name.

"That," Kael said, "is not the only question you should be asking." His gaze settled on Renji. "You should ask why, after four years of watching Haruki Ishida, they chose now to let him know."

Renji absorbed that.

"You're leaving again."

"Shanghai."

"You said that was probably nothing."

"It has become considerably less probably nothing."

"What changed?"

"A rumour became a name. And the name is worth crossing an ocean for."