Voss reached out again four days after the abandoned laboratory's discovery, this time through a considerably less subtle method, a direct call to Ashworth's secured line that left the Director's expression carefully neutral throughout the brief exchange.
"She wants to meet," Ashworth said, once the call ended. "Openly this time. No hidden observation, no cryptic notes. A direct conversation, her words, about what we found at the laboratory site."
"She knows we found it," Victor said.
"Apparently. Which suggests either ongoing surveillance we haven't detected, or someone within her own organization informed her deliberately." Ashworth's expression turned calculating. "Either possibility is worth understanding better."
