Page 42 of Peak’s Code

Peak studied the code again. “You think Wren wrote this?”

“I think someone used a system she designed,” Maeve said.

“Could Mercer have copied it from her?” Peak asked.

“Yes.” She nodded.

Captain nodded toward the bag. “He claimed it was a schedule.”

“For what?” Maeve asked.

“He wouldn’t say.”

Peak turned the plastic bag over. “There’s more writing on the back.” Three words had been written in faint blue ink.

TIDE BEFORE DAWN

Maeve’s pulse jumped. “That’s from Wren.”

“You recognize the handwriting?” Captain asked.

“No.” She pointed to the phrase. “Our grandfather used to say it whenever we went crabbing. He’d wake us before sunrise and tell us we had to catch the tide before dawn.” Her throat tightened. “Wren hated getting up early.”

Peak’s attention remained on the note. “It could be a message.”

“To me,” Maeve whispered.

Captain’s expression hardened. “Or to bait you into looking for her.”

She looked at him. “Everything could be bait to trap me.”

“Which is why nobody’s running to those coordinates tonight,” Peak said.

“If Wren was there—” she started.

“Mercer said she passed through there three months ago,” Captain said. The words struck hard because three months was a long time, and would only lead to another dead end. It would just be another place where Wren had been but no longer was.

Maeve stepped away, needing room to breathe, and Peak watched her every move. “Three months isn’t much time. It could be something.” Peak offered.

“It could lead to nothing, too,” she spat.

Peak placed the evidence bag carefully on the dresser. “A location gives us cameras, utility records, supply routes, vehicles, and personnel.”

Maeve looked at him. “And payment trails,” she added quietly.

“Exactly,” Peak said.

Captain watched the exchange with an expression Maeve couldn’t read. Finally, he said, “Mercer gave us something else.”

Maeve braced herself. “What is it?”

“He said the station wasn’t part of the Iron Serpents’ operation.”

Peak frowned. “Then whose was it?”

“The Director’s,” Captain said. The title seemed to chill the room. Maeve had seen it hundreds of times in the messages she’d pulled from Mercer’s server. But she’d never found a name—not even an initial.

Report sent to Director.