“Wait.” Caldera caught him, jerking him to a stop. “Verus, any traps?”

I concentrated. “Can’t see.”

Slate shoved Caldera off with an effort and strode into the room. Nothing triggered and he bent over Haken for a second, then looked back at us. “He’s okay.”

“I don’t like that look on your face,” Caldera said. “What’s wrong?”

“This is too easy,” I said. “There weren’t even any wards . . .”

“Who cares?” Slate said.

Something clicked. “It’s a decoy.”

“Looks like Haken to me,” Caldera said.

“No. I mean, yes, it’s him, but that’s not what I meant. We weren’t—”

“Verus?” Slate said. “Shut up. You’ve done your job.”

“Wait,” Caldera said. “We weren’t what?”

Slate gave Caldera a look. “Really?”

“I’ve learnt that if you bring a diviner along, it’s a good idea to listen to him,” Caldera said. “Especially this one. We weren’t what?”

“Vihaela isn’t working for White Rose anymore,” I said. “She’s bailing.”

“How?”

I spread out my senses, looking for Vihaela. Too much interference—I needed more to go on. I thought about how all this had started. The data focus and what was on it . . .

Information. The real power behind White Rose. I snapped my fingers. “She’ll be at the archives. Wherever they keep their records. She’s going to take them and run.”

“Why?” Slate said.

“Because that’s what she’s after. Look, think about it. What would she want with Haken? She wasn’t trying to silence him, she wants the Keepers here. Everything she’s done has made things worse for White Rose, not better.”

“You don’t know that,” Slate said.

I looked up at the ceiling in frustration. He’s not going to listen, is he? I turned to Caldera.

Caldera looked back at me for a second, then glanced at Slate. “We are still under orders to bring her in.”

“You’re really buying this?” Slate said.

Caldera shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

Slate hesitated, and I felt the futures fork and then shift. “Fine,” he said. “Trask, get Haken out. We’ll take Vihaela.”

“You sure?” Trask said.

“Don’t have time to wait.” Slate turned to me. “Find Vihaela. And make it fast.”

We split, Trask carrying Haken back the way we came while Slate, Caldera, and I headed deeper. With only three of us left, there was less interference to my senses. The machine-gun fire from the roof had stopped, and instead I could hear shots echoing from the ground floor; the fight was still going on, and it sounded as though the Council had brought in reinforcements. Shouts and hollow thuds echoed from below, and I could smell smoke. The fighting was getting closer, which seemed like a good indication that White Rose was losing. I didn’t know where Vihaela was, but I’d managed to get a good enough sense of the building that I could guess where the more secure facilities were housed, and I picked us a route that would avoid as many people as possible. Running footsteps sounded from all around, but in the chaos we were able to make our way across the building without being spotted.