Kamchatka

Harry crouched in front of the Stone Platform and scanned its surface with the detector. The data showed faint residual signals, matching the material composition used in Paloma Observatory equipment.

Someone had been here, and they had been equipped with Paloma Observatory gear.

"People from the client have been here. They know this location exists, and they may know about the eighth point as well."

Harry stood and glanced at the map on the wall. "We need to confirm the location of the eighth point as soon as possible."

"The Confederation's remote scanning coverage is limited," Veratia said. "If the eighth point lies at the geometric convergence point of this system, it could be farther away."

Harry transferred an image of the wall map to his phone and headed back the way they had come.

Over the next few days, the Confederation Technical Group would cross-reference the map data to pinpoint the actual geographic coordinates of that convergence point.

The client already knew about the seventh location, and the eighth point might be their true target.

"The client already knows about the seventh location," Harry said, his voice forming a brief echo in the empty cave, bouncing off the rock walls several times before gradually fading. "And the eighth point may be their real target. They may be waiting for us to leave before coming back to continue."

He looked at the map image saved on his phone. The angle of the light and the clarity of the image were sufficient; the arcs and dots on the screen formed a complete route, as though some long-forgotten plan had returned to its rightful place within seconds.

Masoud stood near the cave entrance, keeping his distance from the Stone Platform.

He said, "If people from the client really came here, they should