Chapter 119: The Dead Data Engineer

Richard Mercer had built the software layer beneath Project Northwind. Julian Cross designed the behavioral models; Nadia Wells translated them into narratives; Mercer created the databases that connected profiles, events, and probabilities.

Officially, Mercer died in a boating accident nine years earlier. His body was never recovered.

Thomas now admitted he had seen Mercer alive less than two years before Stone Holdings collapsed. Adrian introduced him under another name during a private technology review.

Louis's patience snapped. "How many supposedly dead people did you intend to forget mentioning?"

Thomas accepted the anger. He claimed he had believed Mercer irrelevant to the financial crimes until the photograph appeared and Nadia's interview methods brought Northwind back into focus.

Derek searched aliases associated with Mercer's old companies. A trail emerged through cybersecurity consultancies, data brokers, and offshore analytics firms. One consultant named Raymond Miles had repeatedly worked for Meridian.

R.M.

Photographs of Raymond Miles were scarce, but facial comparison against old university images of Richard Mercer produced a strong resemblance. It was not legal identification, but enough to investigate.

Mercer's specialty mattered. He had designed systems that could continuously update behavioral predictions when new data arrived. In other words, he could have modernized Northwind into the kind of profiling engine used against Serena.

Freya asked whether Mercer could know about her transmigration. Louis answered carefully: he could know that her behavior changed impossibly fast. That was not the same thing.

The distinction kept them grounded.

A search of Greyline's technical contracts found Raymond Miles listed as a consultant during the year leading to Stone Holdings' collapse. He disappeared from payroll the day after the collapse.

Again, the supposed ending marked the cutoff.

Derek also found evidence that Miles had accessed the private records company holding Stone Foundation photographs. That made him the strongest candidate for sending the childhood picture.

But why?

Nadia believed Mercer had always been more interested in unexpected behavior than predictable behavior. Julian wanted models to help people prepare. Adrian wanted models to control outcomes. Mercer wanted to see what happened when the model failed.

Freya did not like being someone's experiment.

They traced one current payment to a consulting company registered in Singapore, but the money trail ended behind nominees. Louis's investigators began working through lawful channels to identify its controllers.

That night, another message arrived—not at the apartment, but through Freya's author contact page.

It contained no threat.

Only a question: What did you do differently on the first morning?

Freya stared at the screen.

Louis photographed it before Derek isolated the device.

Freya remembered the answer instantly. On her first morning after awakening, she had done something the original Freya would never have done.

She had cleaned the apartment.

Then she had decided not to leave Louis.

Whoever was messaging her wasn't asking about magic.

They were studying the exact moment the model broke.

Freya considered blocking the contact form entirely. She decided against it because it remained important for legitimate readers and business messages. Instead, Derek helped her publisher route suspicious submissions into a preserved security queue. Freya refused to let Mercer take another ordinary part of her career away from her.

Freya considered blocking the contact form entirely. She decided against it because it remained important for legitimate readers and business messages. Instead, Derek helped her publisher route suspicious submissions into a preserved security queue. Freya refused to let Mercer take another ordinary part of her career away from her.

Freya considered blocking the contact form entirely. She decided against it because it remained important for legitimate readers and business messages. Instead, Derek helped her publisher route suspicious submissions into a preserved security queue. Freya refused to let Mercer take another ordinary part of her career away from her.