Chapter 4 - THE SECRET INSIDE HER THESIS
Mira's thesis had never been published.
But someone had read it.
That became clear three days later.
She was staying temporarily at a secure apartment arranged through an attorney, with her consent.
The police had taken her statement about the restaurant shooting.
Dante's lawyers were cooperating with investigators.
Then Mira received an email.
No sender name.
Only a subject line.
YOUR THESIS WAS CORRECT.
She stared.
The message contained a single sentence.
The dialect wasn't the only thing you recognized.
Attached was a photograph.
An old shipping manifest.
Russian text.
A handwritten symbol in the margin.
Mira's stomach tightened.
She knew the symbol.
During her graduate research, she'd studied coded phrases used by organized criminal networks to disguise shipments.
One recurring symbol had appeared in archived documents connected to disappearances along Baltic shipping routes.
She had believed it was historical.
Now it appeared on a modern manifest.
Mira called the detective handling her statement.
She forwarded the email.
Then called Dante.
He answered immediately.
“Mira?”
“Someone sent me a shipping document.”
His voice changed.
“What kind?”
“A manifest.”
She hesitated.
“Dante, I think the shipment Sergei was discussing wasn't what you thought it was.”
Dante went silent.
“What do you mean?”
“The coded language isn't about weapons.”
A pause.
“Then what?”
Mira looked at the symbol.
“People.”
The silence on the other end became absolute.
Then Dante said:
“Are you certain?”
“No.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“But I'm afraid I might be.”
