The Forgotten Ties

vy on her as she clutched the photocopies of Jefferson's letter and Hargrove's cryptic notes. What had

s across the city streets. Maggie hurried toward her hotel, her bag pressed tightly against her chest. Eve

orting. Instead, it felt oppressive, the silence broken only by the faint hum of the air c

f whispered conspiracies, accounts dismissed as paranoia, and the occasional cryptic reference in obscure historical texts. But one th

er that?" she muttered to her

as the journal claimed, what exactly had they achieved? And why h

at meant going further into the darkness. She glanced at her phone, debating whether to c

interrupted by a

ered room service, and she wasn't expecting anyone. Slowly, sh

way, his face obscured by the low ligh

, his voice cold and cli

se the man, but the way he said her name sen

dged with irritation. "We need to discuss what you

her name? And how did he know what she'd found? S

"This is your only warning, Ms. Cole. Sto

g, listening as his footsteps retreated down the hall. She didn't

through the peephole aga

ever he was, he knew what she was investigating. And if he knew, the

t settled. She kept replaying the encounter in her mind, wondering who the man was and how he'd foun

ing back to the journal. "We are no longer bound by mortal limitat

iting for her, a stack of books under his arm.

ttered, dropping he

ion softened.

unter with the man at the hotel. Ryan lis

ally. "If they're sending people to intimida

ngerous?" M

e'd brought-a dusty volume filled with old maps and diagr

milar to the emblem she'd found. "It's a map. Or part of one

diagram wasn't just a symbol-it was a clue. And i

price. And Maggie wasn't s