"Stay close enough to identify where it went."
"So I was acceptable collateral."
"No."
"It looked that way from my side of the table."
Cole nodded once. "That's fair."
The server arrived with coffee. Raymond thanked her; Maya waited until she left.
"Who are you working for?"
Cole kept his voice low. "A public integrity task force—state and federal cooperation. My assignment is to follow the payment network and evidence access irregularities without alerting the people above Keller."
"Does Sloan know about you?"
"If he does, then none of this matters because my cover is already gone."
Raymond asked, "And if he doesn't?"
"Then I can still get closer."
Maya folded her hands around the coffee cup. "You contacted me because something changed."
Cole reached into his jacket again and placed a folded sheet of paper on the table. "This identifier appeared in the payment chain connected to Keller."
Maya opened the paper. The code was not a complete account number; it was a structured internal token containing letters, numbers, and a sequence she recognized immediately. Her expression changed.
Raymond saw it. "What is it?"
Maya kept looking at the page. "That format belongs to WDI."
Cole said, "I thought it might."
"Where did you get it?"
"From a routing record associated with one of Keller's payments. Whoever built the transfer process used an operational identifier in the metadata."
Maya looked at him. "Someone inside my company created this."
"I can't prove that yet."
"You don't need to. The format isn't public."
Raymond asked, "How many people inside WDI could generate one?"
Maya thought carefully. "More than the six who knew about the memory card, but not many. It requires access to our internal administrative structure."
Cole took back the paper only after Maya photographed it through her secure work device.
Maya said, "You're telling me Keller and Trent were working for someone connected to our own systems."
"I'm telling you the payment network touched something that looks internal to WDI."
"And you want me to keep quiet about you?"
"Yes."
"Why should I?"
Cole did not answer immediately. "Because if the people above Keller know I'm talking to you, they stop using him. They stop using Trent. They change the payment path, they shut down whatever I've been following, and we lose the chance to identify who is directing it."
Maya looked toward Raymond. He did not answer for her. She turned back to Cole. "If I agree, it doesn't make us partners."
"I'm not asking for that."
"And if you learn something that affects my company?"
"I tell you if I can do it without compromising the investigation."
"That's not good enough."
"It's the best answer I have."
Maya considered that. "Then here's mine: I won't expose you today, but I'm not protecting your investigation at the cost of my company or my legal position."
Cole nodded. "Understood."
Raymond finally took a drink of coffee. "One more question."
Cole looked at him.
"At the diner, why did you stop when I looked at you?"
Cole's expression tightened slightly. "Because I knew what I was seeing."
"What did you see?"
"Someone who wasn't improvising."
Raymond said nothing.
Cole stood. "I'll contact you through the same number if I have more."
Maya looked at him. "Don't come near WDI."
"I wasn't planning to."
He left the cafe alone.
Maya waited until he was out of sight before speaking. "If he's telling the truth, Adrien's list isn't enough."
"No," Raymond said. "We have someone inside the company touching the payment path."
"Yes." Maya picked up her coffee, then set it down without drinking. "I need to know who."
Raymond looked at the identifier still displayed on her secure device. "Then don't ask them."
Maya understood immediately: she would not confront anyone; she would give different people different information and wait to see which version escaped WDI.
By the time they left the cafe, the question had changed again. Maya was no longer trying to prove that somebody inside her company had betrayed her; she was deciding how to make that person reveal themselves.
Maya returned to WDI with Raymond shortly before 4:00 in the afternoon. She did not call a meeting. She did not tell Adrien about Cole, the payment identifier, or the possibility that someone inside the company had helped Keller and Trent. Instead, she went directly to her office and closed the door.
Raymond remained near the window while Maya opened a secure administrative console.
"You already know what you're going to do," he said.
"I know what I need to test."
"Same thing."
"No, a test can fail."
Raymond nodded and let her work.
Maya created three separate internal notes concerning the memory card. Each note described a different transfer location; none of the locations would actually receive the card:
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The first stated that the card would be moved to the West Storage Facility for physical protection.
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The second said it would be placed inside the legal vault under outside counsel's custody.
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The third said it would be transferred through a federal records office channel.
She assigned each version to one person: Adrien Vale received the West Storage Facility; a senior systems engineer named Marcus Reed received the legal vault; Maya's executive assistant, Dana Ellis, received the federal records office. Only Maya and Raymond knew that all three locations were false.
Raymond read the assignments over her shoulder. "You trust the other two?"
"I trusted Adrien."
"That wasn't my question."
Maya looked at the screen. "Marcus has been here nine years. Dana has been with me since the company had one office and twelve employees."