Mountains of Savoy – November 17, 1937 – 6:41 PM
Night had fallen early. The safehouse felt smaller with every step echoing louder.
Claire felt time pounding like a drum inside her chest.
Solène entered in a rush.
— "We intercepted a transmission. They'll be here in three hours. Maybe less."
Émile calmly cleaned his weapon, like someone who had already survived the impossible.
Lorelei folded maps, organizing routes.
— "There's no easy way out."
Claire closed her eyes.
— "Maybe we don't need an exit. We need an echo."
—
Safehouse basement – 7:10 PM
She recorded a new message.
This time, it came with no conditions.
It was everything.
— "This is the full content of the LUX dossier. With names, dates, cross-confirmed evidence. No more negotiations. No more silence."
She ended with a steady voice:
— "If I don't speak tomorrow, let this file speak for me."
—
Hill above the safehouse – 8:17 PM
Headlights appeared through the trees.
Unmarked vehicles.
Claire looked out the window.
— "They're here."
Lorelei drew her pistol.
— "Small group. They want to capture, not destroy."
Madeleine, armed for the first time, muttered:
— "Then they miscalculated."
—
But something changed.
Before the first shot, before the first shout —
a new signal crackled through the radio.
A rogue frequency. From Rome.
Then London.
Then Warsaw.
— "File received."
— "We're rebroadcasting."
— "The truth is already alive."
Claire smiled.
— "Then now… let them come."
—
Because what was inside the envelope…
was already loose in the world.