In the heart of London – Surveillance at a glance…

Like he’d done it a thousand times.
Jake raised his weapon, but the Architect paused halfway up the ladder and looked back at him — calm, composed, untouchable.
He gave a small, almost polite nod.
Then disappeared over the railing.
The armoured boat peeled away, engines roaring.
Emma fired again, but the rounds pinged harmlessly off reinforced plating.
Jake slammed his fist against the railing. “Damn it!”
Emma steadied her breathing. “He planned every second of this.”
Jake stared at the shrinking silhouette of the extraction boat.
“No,” he said quietly. “He planned every second up to this.”
Emma looked at him. “Meaning?”
Jake’s eyes hardened.
“Meaning he thinks he’s ahead of us.”
Emma holstered her weapon. “He’s not.”
Jake nodded. “Not anymore.”
As the armoured boat vanished into the maze of docks, Emma noticed something floating in the water — a small, black object bobbing in their wake.
“Jake — there!”
Jake reached out with a boathook and snagged it.
A waterproof case.
Emma opened it.
Inside:
A phone.
Encrypted.
Still warm.

Jake’s pulse quickened. “He dropped it during the fight.”
Emma’s eyes lit up. “Or he thought he did.”
Jake shook his head. “No. The Architect doesn’t make mistakes.”
Emma looked at the device again.
Then at Jake.
“He wants us to find this.”
Jake nodded slowly.
“Which means whatever’s on it… is the next move.”
The boat rocked gently as Jake and Emma crouched over the waterproof case, the Thames lapping against the hull. Dawn was breaking — a thin grey light creeping across the river, turning the water into rippling steel.
Emma held the encrypted phone in gloved hands, studying it with a frown. “Jake… this is too easy.”
Jake nodded slowly. “He wanted us to find it.”
Emma looked up. “He made sure we found it.”
Jake replayed the fight in his mind — the Architect’s movements, the way he’d shifted his weight, the moment the case slipped from his coat.
It hadn’t slipped.
It had been placed.
Jake exhaled. “He’s setting the board.”
Emma’s eyes sharpened. “And we’re the pieces.”
Jake took the phone from her, turning it over. “This isn’t a mistake. It’s an invitation.”
Emma’s voice dropped. “Or a distraction.”
Jake’s jaw tightened. “Either way, we’re already inside his plan.”
Back at MI5’s mobile command unit — hastily set up near the river — Tess Calder hunched over her monitors, fingers flying. Jake and Emma stood behind her, still dripping river water, adrenaline still burning through their veins.
Tess plugged the Architect’s phone into her isolated rig. “Okay, let’s see what our mystery man wants us to see.”
Lines of code scrolled.
Then froze.