The room stayed quiet but it was not the quiet of people who were lost. It was the quiet of people who were thinking hard and fast, all of them looking at the same map and trying to find the piece that had moved without anyone seeing it move.
Sean spoke first. "The route is the same as before." Nick shook her head without looking up. "Then the problem is not the road. It's where the road ends."
Silas kept his eyes on the map. "They changed the drop point." That was when Alaric stepped forward and everyone in the room felt the shift that came with it.
"He didn't change the route," Alaric said. "He changed the habit." Nick looked at him. "Explain."
Alaric placed his hand flat on the table. "He doesn't trust the same location twice once something goes wrong, but he never moves far from where he feels safe. He stays inside what he knows." Sean frowned. "So he moved it but kept it close." Alaric nodded once. "Yes. Somewhere hidden and somewhere no one thinks to check anymore."
