Felix Cartwright's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Felix walked back to the market two hours after the stranger left. The paper sat in his pouch, warm against his hip. He knew the first two names — Marcus, who traded in property disputes, and Lena, who collected gossip from the docks. But the third name belonged to no one he'd ever tracked. He found Marcus first, leaning against a produce stall. Felix asked him directly. Marcus went pale. "Don't say that name out loud," he whispered. "That person's been watching you for weeks." Felix left him there and went to find Lena at the waterfront. She said the same thing before he could finish his question. "Already watching," she said, pointing toward the old mushroom house at the edge of the market — the one with the blue cap and glowing tendrils nobody had lived in for years. Felix turned to look. A shadow moved behind the round window, then vanished. He touched the pouch at his waist. The third name wasn't someone he needed to find. They'd already found him. He walked toward the mushroom house anyway, because now he knew the shape of the problem. Someone had been tracking his network while he'd been busy tracking everyone else.