Page 159 of Mercy Written in Blood

"Then I will."

"That may draw further attention."

"He already has their attention."

"We do not know that."

Haruki held up the photograph.

"They chose him."

Kael looked at Renji's face. Something unreadable moved through his eyes.

"Renji can protect himself."

The use of his name did not go unnoticed. Haruki lowered the photograph.

"You know him."

"Yes."

"How well?"

"Better than you."

The answer was not a challenge. It still felt like one.

Haruki put the photograph away.

"Then you should know he'll refuse protection."

"He will."

"And?"

"And he will be correct."

Haruki stared at him. Kael's expression remained cold.

"Dr Takahara is not the vulnerable person in that photograph."

The words landed with an implication Haruki did not yet understand. Before he could ask, an Accord officer called from the far wall.

"Kael."

Everyone turned. The officer stood beneath the mezzanine beside a section of black sheeting pulled away from the concrete. Behind it, hundreds of photographs covered the wall.

Haruki approached slowly. The first row showed the Ishida headquarters — entrances, windows, staff changes, delivery schedules. The second showed Family-owned businesses: Ken entering a restaurant, Reina leaving a legal office, Ayako walking through the memorial gardens. More rows continued across the concrete. Haruki at the hospital. Haruki visiting survivors. Haruki meeting Kael. Haruki entering the university archive.

Some photographs were recent. Others were not. His hair was shorter in one. A winter coat he had discarded two years earlier appeared in another. The oldest photograph showed Haruki stepping out of a car outside the Ishida headquarters. The date printed beneath it was nearly four years old.

No one spoke.

The warehouse had not been established after the tunnel attack. The Unveiled had not discovered Haruki because he found their chamber. They had known him already. Studied him. Recorded routines, loyalties and weaknesses long before he understood they existed.

Haruki stood before four years of his own life observed from a distance.

For the first time, the danger no longer felt like something moving towards them.