The Book of Many Wonders

At an internet café in New York, Anderson resumes his research into Libre Plures Admiratio - The Book of Many Wonders - the sole surviving major work of Faustus Claudan, active between 1535 and 1561.

Cross-referencing the recovered photocopies, Anderson identifies the recurring word Laqueus throughout Wei's annotations. Translated from Latin, it can mean noose, snare, or trap.

The photocopied pages themselves are difficult to interpret. Certain words are underlined, and others circled. Numbers fill both margins, separated by dots with no obvious system behind them.

Anderson spends a considerable amount of time attempting to translate isolated words, hoping to uncover some underlying message. No pattern emerges from any combination he tries.

Covering Their Tracks

19:47

Stevens and Dellaroche remain inside the Newark safehouse alongside the body.

Dellaroche shows Stevens the note addressed to him. He admits he has felt uneasy ever since the abandonment of codenames, and Stevens finds she shares the same discomfort.

Searching the house for cellotape, Dellaroche returns to attempt fingerprint samples from the body while Stevens moves upstairs alone, weapon ready.

An Unlived-In Home

The upper floor holds a large bathroom and three bedrooms. The front bedroom doubles as an office, a multi-monitor PC positioned carefully out of sight of any window.

Elsewhere, the rooms are close to empty. A bed. Nothing else.

T-shirts, trousers, underwear and socks in matching colours but varying sizes are found in the main bedroom. The bed has been made with military precision. The bathroom holds no personal effects.

Stevensreturns downstairs to report what she's found.

Staging the Scene

Dellaroche's fingerprint attempt fails - the tape smudges too badly to be forensically useful. Learning of the computer upstairs, he heads up and removes the hard drive.

The pair briefly consider staging a fire to disguise the scene as an accident, but with no ignition source available, they settle on leaving the body to read as a suicide instead. The dictaphone, the mask, and the tripwire device are all taken from the scene.

Noticing the blood pattern on the victim's arm suggests she had been holding something at the time of death, Stevens presses a TV remote into the dead woman's hand in place of the dictaphone.

Both agents remain aware that ringing the property's digital doorbell on arrival has left a record of their presence. With no way to remove it, they accept the exposure as an unavoidable cost of the operation.

Cleaning the Files

At the Hammond Laboratory, Smith remains absorbed in Wei's Logiqa data, conscious that a significant volume of physical evidence still awaits processing.

Logging into the FBI's systems, Smith spends close to an hour locating and deleting every digital image containing the hypergeometric sequence - discovering along the way that the same evidence has already been mirrored to state trooper systems through official channels, and that a Dr Comox has already remotely reviewed the files. Smith adds a password to the FBI database as an additional safeguard.

Analyst Note: Continued third-party access to sequence-related evidence by Dr Comox represents an unresolved exposure risk. Field team's use of the phrase "national security" during evidence justification has potentially drawn unwanted attention - see Directive Log below.

Turning to a box of roughly fifty physical crime scene photographs, Smith sorts through and pulls every print showing the sequence, then locates a shredder in a nearby office and begins destroying them one by one.

Midway through, a flicker of movement catches Smith's eye through the window - a brief reflection inside a van parked in the lot outside. Smith finishes the job regardless, locks up the lab, and heads for the exit.

As Smithreaches the double doors, the van's headlights switch on. It pulls away into the night. A New Jersey licence plate is the only bit of information that Smith can take not of.

Good Ol' Lucky Michael

Anderson, still working from the internet café, drifts back to his usual forums.

A CBSarticle has surfaced concerning the three recent Powerball winners, each describing a chance encounter with a kindly stranger who told them they'd win - a man they only refer to as Michael, or Mikey. The comment section has already spiralled: Russian agents, machine learning conspiracies, theories that the man has been touched by God and shown the future. "Michael" is trending hard across the usual conspiracy circles.

Mid-scroll, a message arrives from Electra_49 - about The Joker, which they have just seen and thinks he'd enjoy. Some clumsy flirting follows on both sides before Anderson decides to go himself that evening.

An Unusually Accommodating Evening

At the cinema, Anderson finds he already knows the exact price of his snacks before reaching the counter. The film starts the instant he sits down. The seats on either side of him remain empty throughout.

He notices, shrugs it off as a coincidence. Anderson continues to enjoy the film anyway.

Directive Log

En route to a hotel, Smithbriefs the operation handler on the mounting evidence situation. The handler grows visibly concerned upon hearing the phrase "national security" used in the field - language that tends to draw unwanted attention precisely because it signals a genuine threat.

The handler expresses confusion at the team's improvisation so far, singling out the fake website, and confirms that Dr Comox'scontinued access to the case files may require her "reassignment" - though direct action against a serving FBI agent remains a last resort.

A Call From Cainer

Checking into his hotel, Smithreceives a call from an unknown number. It's Special Agent Cainer, working alongside Gant.

Cainer has information and wants to deliver it in person; Smith, exhausted, insists on the phone instead.

The ballistics trace has confirmed the 24th Precinctas the shotgun's origin, though the interviewing officer mentioned Dellaroche had already been through once before. The officer was unusually forthcoming - Cainer suspects his Chief had already quietly cleared the way for cooperation. CCTV of the original theft should be available by tomorrow.

At the university, Gant has spoken again with Sandy Beeman, who mentioned the same thing - two agents had already been and gone. Gant plans to interview Molly Frank in the morning.

A Late Check-In

At 21:21, Smith calls Anderson. Smithapologises for the day's absence and promises to reconnect in the morning, urging him to rest. Anderson hangs up and returns to the film.

Dellaroche then also reaches out to Anderson: Urgent task: call me.

Anderson calls back, and Dellaroche shares the name recovered from the Newark safehouse - Maksim, someone with potential government or military ties. Dellaroche wants Anderson to research the name and try to find the man behind the name.

Dellarocheconfirms that he'll be returning to New York in the morning.

Unwinding with Society

Anderson turns his phone off and returns to the cinema. Watching the rest of the movie, Andersoncatches himself trying to map numbers from the film onto the ongoing investigation - a reflex that, for the first time, doesn't unsettle him the way it used to.

As he leaves, satisfied, Electra_49 messages again about the film - the conversation drifting into how difficult the world can feel, how easy it is to feel misunderstood. Something in the exchange lands, and they bond over it.

Contact from the Unknown

Back at the hotel, Andersonsearches for "Maksim," experimenting with converting the name into numbers.

A message arrives from an unknown user - a photograph of Stevens and Smith at the Ridgeway crime scene. Anderson replies with a single question mark.

Anderson leaves his duffel bag behind, takes only his laptop, and catches a cab to the coordinates - a payphone. It rings as soon as he arrives.

A modulated voice greets him: "I hope you are a friend."

"Yes, I am a friend."

"What is the name of your woman?"

"Electra_49."

The voice provides a time - 08:34 - a date, tomorrow, and an address on the outskirts of New York.

"Find me."

Anderson hurries back to the hotel, unable to sleep properly, buzzing with the sensation of having stepped into a spy film.

Across the city, the rest of the team settle into their respective hotels.

Psychological Evaluations

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

Jackie Stevens – Displayed calm, methodical judgement while staging the Newark scene, including deliberate evidence substitution under pressure. Shared unease at written note and should be monitored for wider morale impact.

Malcolm Smith– Continues effective evidence suppression across both digital and physical channels. Use of "national security" framing with personnel has drawn concern and should be curtailed. Possible surveillance by unidentified party requires urgent follow-up.

Marcus Dellaroche – Direct exposure to material referencing previous operations continues to compound psychological pressure. Willingness to agent involvement from local authorities remains within operational parameters but is escalating in scale.

Thomas A. Anderson– Independently initiated contact with an unidentified third party without operational authorisation or backup, attending an unsecured meeting location alone. Recommend immediate reassessment of Anderson's exposure and autonomy going forward.