The contract linked Bram Holt to the warehouse for a month. It did not say what he had seen there.
Kellan printed the public listing and laid it beside the photographs of the lower assignment sheet and the higher notice. The dates overlapped. The listing named Bram as a security contact for Aegis; it did not identify the shifts he worked or give him authority over threat ratings.
Eli stood at the end of the clinic table. “He said security doesn’t normally set the ratings.”
“He said he couldn’t discuss the incident without the file,” Sera replied. “Both statements are in my notes.”
“We can ask him for the file.”
“We can ask the records desk he gave us. It may tell us what exists before we ask a person to explain it.”
Tessa placed Jalen’s signed testimony in a separate envelope. The hearing had made part of his account available to the panel and the parties, but he had not authorized the team to circulate his medical records or submit a broader complaint in his name.
“If we ask about the rating,” she said, “we need to make sure the request doesn’t identify him as our source.”
Eli wanted to return to the registry hall and find Bram before the next consultation. The name on the contract connected the present warehouse to the man who had stopped him in the old raid. It felt like a line drawn between two points he had been unable to join.
Kellan placed a ruler on the table and drew a timeline. “Public contract begins here. Jalen heard Rell’s instruction here. Garin’s team entered here. The higher notice was photographed here.”
He left spaces between the marks. “The contract shows Aegis personnel could have been at the site during the interval. It doesn’t show Bram was on duty when the sheet moved.”
“His name is on it,” Eli said.
“As a contact. That matters. It isn’t a shift record.”
Sera added the date of Bram’s consultation and his statement that he had not been present during the rescue. She marked it as his statement, not a verified location. Tessa wrote the date of the panel’s order and the fact that the panel had not ruled on deliberate falsification.
Eli looked at the line. “I want to confront him because I remember what he did.”
Kellan looked up. “You told us you distrust him. Is this the part you can’t explain?”
“Yes. It makes me read his name as proof before I have the record.”
“Then we’ll check the record,” Kellan said. “You don’t have to pretend the reaction isn’t there.”
Nora arrived with a copy of the panel order and a notebook. She reviewed Jalen’s authorization and called him before drafting anything. He was at work and could speak only during a break. Nora explained that the team wanted to request the warehouse security assignment and the handling history of the rating notices. She did not propose sending his medical information.
“Will they know I told you about Rell?” Jalen asked.
“The request can avoid naming you, but the employer may infer why we’re asking. I can’t guarantee anonymity. Your hearing statement is already known to the parties.”
Jalen asked for the exact wording before it was sent. Nora agreed. He said he would call back after his shift.
While they waited, Sera checked the public records desk’s instructions. A request could identify the warehouse, the contract period, and the documents sought. It did not require a witness’s name. The desk would acknowledge receipt and decide which records could be released; it might withhold private or security-sensitive information.
“Ask for the shift roster,” Eli said.
“The roster may contain names and personal details,” Nora replied. “What do you need it to establish?”
“Whether Bram was assigned when the rating changed.”
“Then request the dates and roles of security assignments for the relevant period, with personal details redacted as necessary. Also ask for any record of who received or transmitted the rating notices. They may not release it, but the question is specific.”
Kellan added the relevant dates from the timeline. Sera asked for the approval and posting timestamps for the lower and higher notices, and for any transmittal record showing which office sent the assignment materials. Tessa removed a sentence naming Jalen as the reason for the request.
Eli read the draft. It did not accuse Bram or Rell of falsification. It asked for records that could support or contradict the suspicions they had discussed.
“Will this warn them to change something?” he asked.
“It may tell them someone is looking,” Nora said. “A direct confrontation would do that too. The request asks them to preserve the records and gives us a dated acknowledgment if they receive it.”
Leah came in with a notice from the Tower office. Independent applicants could reserve an equipment inspection slot online, but the reservation would expire if the registration charge was not paid by the listed date. Kellan checked the time against Theo’s appointment and his separate construction wages.
“My separate construction wages have cleared,” he said. “I can pay my share.”
Sera had enough for the radio reservation but not the full registration charge. She proposed taking an additional mapping job before the deadline. The job required her to survey a public route, not enter a gate. Tessa asked who would cover the clinic’s delivery while she worked. Ruth volunteered, then checked the cart instructions Kellan had tied to the handle.
The Tower did not wait for the warehouse inquiry. Neither did the clinic. Eli helped Leah book the inspection slot that fit Marisol’s coverage, then returned to the records request.
Sera took the mapping job that afternoon. The client wanted a public route checked for a delivery of medical equipment; a road closure had forced drivers through a narrow side street. She walked the route with a measuring tape, marking the width of the turns and the height of a low awning.
A delivery van blocked the first corner. Its driver said he would be gone in five minutes. Sera timed the delay and asked whether vans routinely stopped there. The shop owner said deliveries came every afternoon, but the times varied. Sera wrote a range and marked a second route rather than treating the parked van as a permanent obstruction.
At the next crossing she found a ramp with a loose metal plate. A wheelchair user had to lift one front wheel to pass it. Sera helped hold the chair steady after asking, then reported the plate to the street office. She did not mark the route accessible until the plate was repaired.
At the destination, Sera found that the loading door opened outward into the marked path. She measured the clearance with the door fully open and added a note for the driver to stop short until the receiving staff secured it. A worker tested the door catch and found that it held. Sera included the check time in her report and asked the receiving worker to initial the measurement.
The client met her at the destination. He wanted the shortest route and pointed to the side street. Sera showed him the turn radius and the delivery window.
“Your truck can fit if the van isn’t there,” she said. “If it is, use the square. It adds six minutes at walking speed, more in traffic.”
“Can you guarantee the square will be clear?”
“No. I checked it this afternoon. I’ll give you the time and the things that could change.”
He signed the report and paid the fixed fee. Sera returned to the clinic with the receipt and placed the cash beside her registration form. It covered most of her remaining charge; she would use her own savings for the rest. The route map went to the client, while the loose plate report went to the street office with its own reference number.
Jalen called back. Nora read the wording aloud. He asked whether the request would include the station ledger.
“No,” she said. “It asks about the warehouse security assignments and the rating notices. Your ledger remains separate unless you authorize another step.”
“Will you send my statement?”
“Not with this request.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I agree to that wording. If they ask who told you about the instruction, call me before answering.”
“We will.”
Rowan also reviewed the section concerning the assignment. She authorized the request for the rating and transmittal history but did not want the insurer’s payment details included. Nora confirmed that the request did not contain them.
Eli signed as the requester. Sera attached the public contract reference and the photograph of the higher notice. Nora checked that the image did not include a worker’s face or Rowan’s family information. The request asked for three things: the dates and roles of security assignments for the relevant period; approval and posting dates for the lower and higher threat ratings; and records showing which office transmitted the assignment materials. It also asked the office to preserve responsive records.
They sent it through the public records portal. An acknowledgment appeared with a reference number and an estimated response date after the Tower registration deadline.
“Too late,” Eli said.
“For deciding whether to register, perhaps,” Nora replied. “Not necessarily for the warehouse inquiry.”
Sera saved the acknowledgment and printed a copy. Kellan wrote the reference number on the timeline. Tessa placed the hearing documents back in Rowan’s folder, which would be returned to her the next day.
Eli looked at the date. He had expected action to feel like progress toward an answer. Instead the portal had given them a number and a wait. The request was still different from another argument around the table: someone outside the team now had to respond to specific questions.
Kellan’s phone rang. Theo’s driver had reached the pharmacy, but the prescription was not ready. Kellan checked the clock and asked whether Theo wanted him to come. Theo said no; he and the driver could wait, but he wanted Kellan to call if the Tower inspection slot changed.
“It won’t change without me telling you,” Kellan said.
After the call he picked up the new harness buckle. “I need to fit this before the inspection. Eli, hold the strap?”
They sat at the end of the table. Kellan threaded the strap through the buckle while Eli held the loose end. The first pass twisted the webbing. Kellan pulled it back and tried again. This time the buckle closed cleanly.
“Your hand is shaking,” he said.
“I’ve been angry since I saw Bram’s name.”
“Is it making you miss the strap?”
“Not yet.”
“Tell me if it does.”
Eli held the strap while Kellan pulled against it. The buckle held. They checked the stitching and put the harness in its bag.
Tessa came over with the team agreement. “Are you willing to follow the request through the records desk before confronting Bram?”
“Yes.”
“Even if the response doesn’t say what you expect?”
“I’ll read it.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
He considered. “I’ll show it to the team, including anything that clears him. I can’t promise I won’t be angry.”
“I didn’t ask you to stop being angry.”
Sera placed the acknowledgment beside the Tower eligibility sheet. The two documents had different deadlines and different uncertainties. One might lead to a record of the warehouse. The other could give the team a chance to enter the Tower if they paid, passed inspection, and met the assessment requirements.
Leah called from the door. The clinic’s next patient had arrived, and the table was needed for intake. Eli gathered the papers. He put the public contract and the timeline in one folder, the private hearing materials in another, and the Tower forms in a third.
At the entrance he paused to let the patient pass. She carried a small bag of medication and asked whether Marisol was available. Leah led her inside. Eli stepped onto the pavement with the records request acknowledgment in his pocket.
The team had not proved what Bram knew. It had a signed agreement, a limited budget, a Tower deadline, and a request the records office had received. The next answer would come from outside the room where they had learned to disagree.