They later dropped Melissa and Emily off outside a café in the business district — one of those places that looked like a coffee shop from the outside but probably hosted negotiations that moved continents on the inside while the barista pretended not to notice the body count.
A woman was waiting for them at a corner table with her back on them. The posture of someone who sat in rooms where decisions were made and never flinched, even when the decisions involved quietly ruining lives before lunch.
Melissa walked toward her without hesitation, Emily half a step behind with her laptop bag already open like she was ready to document the next corporate assassination.
Phei watched them through the windshield, engine idling.
"Who's that?" he asked. "The woman they're meeting."
Maya shrugged from the passenger seat. "They didn't tell me, either. I think that was the point — since they knew I'd tell you, they kept it to themselves."
