Dreaming of Paradise

That evening, Anderson dreams of vivid, shifting planes. He is playing games side by side with Electra, and just as he is about to see her face, he is distracted by the sound of his mother calling from downstairs.

It's Grim Out East

The morning is grey and overcast, with little on the television.

Enrico Saveis still reporting on the "Maths Killer," and elsewhere on the news, Donald Trump is warning of a deep state controlling the government. No link is being drawn between the gunman in Germany and Wei.

Anderson and Dellarochediscuss the day's plans. Dellarochedoesn't have any.

Joining the List

Anderson gets himself added to the ListBrain mailing list, then sends the following email:

Anderson continues to peruse the internet whilst waiting for a reply to his email.

Analyst Note: The closing lines of the message do not read as ordinary prose. No explanation has been offered by the subject.

A Better Story

Dellaroche, Smith and Stevens regroup to forge improved letters from Wei.

Working together, they build a story that is far more believable than the one Stevens produced alone. The narrative is stronger, but the penmanship is less convincing as Wei's. Stevens suggests dampening the pages so the ink smudges, making them harder to scrutinise.

The agents debate whether a handwritten letter is the best way to present the material. An email might work better, or a typewriter.

They also argue about how to get the evidence into the system, given that the crime scene has already been thoroughly swept.

The discussion is heated, and each of them has a different idea.

Anderson receives replies from three people on the mailing list.

A Game of Hide & Seek

The team sets off for Hammond.

On the way, Smith stops at the Ridgeway house. He introduces himself to the officers on patrol and notes the yellowing bed sheet lying on the sidewalk covering the graffiti of the hypergeometric sequence, then goes inside under the guise of inspecting the scene again.

Smith looks for somewhere the letters could plausibly have been hidden: behind a bookcase, in a secret drawer. In the corner of the bedroom, under a cabinet, he finds a section of carpet. He shifts the cabinet, and the carpet peels back to reveal wooden slats, a hiding place where something could easily have been stashed.

He puts the letters there so that carpet fibres cling to them, then continues on to the laboratory.

Back at Hammond Labs

The group arrives at Hammond Laboratory. Anderson waits in the lobby while the others go through.

A Note from Tia Markel

Going through the replies to his previous email, Anderson finds one from Tia Markel;

Anderson replies promptly;

The response arrives in kind:

Anderson searches for the address. An incident is under way at Hanover High School, with reports of multiple gunshots and coverage still developing.

ATHENA

Meanwhile inside the lab, Smith gets hold of Wei's phone and tries to upload the malware through the Logiqa app.

It fails with an error: _ATHENA_ is no longer online.

A creeping dread settles over Smith, a conviction that something has been forgotten. The message leaves a deep, nagging sense of doubt.

A Frank in Custody

Smith returns to the lobby to question Anderson about the failed upload.

Andersoncan't help with the malware, but he mentions that one of the replies to his email concerned Logiqa, and that the sender had recently been working on it. They were on the same mailing list Wei used before the murders.

The connection clicks.

Molly Frank is in custody, she worked on a predictive AI inside the Fu Institute, and she knew the exact time Wei took the weapon from the 24th Precinct.

Smith decides she may be the best source of information they have.

La Estancia Always Collects

Dellaroche receives a call from Sandy Beeman.

People have arrived at the Fu Institute to remove physical equipment belonging to Wei'sresearch project. They say they are investors, and they've come to collect what they paid for.

Dellaroche asks who they are.

"La Estancia", Beeman replies.

Psychological Evaluations

Standard agency procedure to track how operations are impacting agents in the field.

Jackie Stevens – Contributed to the collaborative forgery effort and proposed a technique to reduce scrutiny of the handwriting. Participation in a heated planning dispute is noted. Recommend continued welfare observation.

Malcolm Smith – Placed fabricated evidence at the Ridgeway scene with care and judgement. Reaction to the ATHENA error message, a persistent sense of dread and doubt without an identifiable cause. Recommend closer monitoring.

Marcus Dellaroche – Participated in the evidence fabrication discussion without major incident. Had no plans on how to progress the operation on his own. Continued observation recommended.

Thomas A. Anderson – Wrote to the mailing list unprompted and in his own name, drawing a reply from an account later associated with a mass shooting incident. His email contains passages he has not explained. Contact with potentially compromised individuals continues without authorisation. Recommend immediate reassessment of his autonomy.