Jin'en parked at the mouth of an alley across the street from the old building's rear alley and cut the engine.
A pale gray had just begun to spread across the sky.
Daffodil had arrived ahead of the agreed time. She leaned in the shadow of the old building's rear wall, something clenched in her hand, and only opened it when Jin'en and Porsette approached.
It was a triangular Prism badge with a vertical line down the middle. The number engraved on the back had one more digit than the one Broken Rainbow had obtained last night: "047."
"The scheduled van arrives at six sharp." Daffodil put the badge away, keeping her voice very low. "An old man unloads it. Gray work clothes, slight limp. He gets to the back door at five forty every day, moves everything himself, then leaves."
"He unloads an entire van alone?" Jin'en asked.
"It's a small van. It doesn't hold much. But there's a delivery every day." Daffodil paused.
"I followed him for a while yesterday. He doesn't leave straight after unloading. He buys breakfast at the street corner and chats with the vendor."
"About what?"
"I couldn't hear clearly. But the vendor called him 'Old Zhou.'"
Jin'en turned his head to glance at Porsette.
Porsette stood half a step away, her hat pulled low. She listened without interrupting, merely going over the back door's location in her head.
"We're not rushing into anything today," Jin'en said.
"We watch first, then decide."
At five fifty-five, a silver van rounded the corner and stopped at the old building's back door.
An old man climbed out of the driver's seat, his gray work clothes washed nearly white. His left knee didn't bend when he stepped, giving him a lurching gait.
He opened the rear doors and began unloading, carrying boxes through the door one at a time. He wasn't fast, but he never stopped.
Jin'en spread his Spatial Perception.
There were two living signatures inside the old building. The one on the first floor stayed still; the one on the second floor was moving.
After carrying in the last box, Old Zhou dusted off his hands and headed for the corner, stopping at a breakfast stall.
"The vendor knows him," Daffodil said. "Look at how he hands him the food. He didn't ask what he wanted, just gave it to him."
Jin'en watched for a moment, then said, "Porsette."
Porsette raised her head.
"Teleport into the alley beside the breakfast stall. Don't get too close. Listen to what he says to the vendor. Come straight back afterward. Don't linger."
"Okay."
Porsette stepped forward and vanished.
Jin'en leaned against the wall at the alley entrance and counted the seconds.
About twenty seconds later, Porsette reappeared where she'd been, exhaling beneath her hat brim.
"He asked the vendor to save an extra serving of soy milk tomorrow. Said there's been more cargo lately, so he has to make another trip," Porsette said.
"The vendor asked if he was working another night shift. He didn't answer, just smiled."
"Night shift." Jin'en rolled the words over his tongue.
"There might be a second run tonight."
Daffodil nodded and shifted the knife behind her waist into an easier position to reach. "Old Zhou handles unloading, not escorting the van. Someone else does that."
"Then we follow the van tonight," Jin'en said.
"And once we get there?"
"Depends." Jin'en walked toward where he'd parked. "If it's isolated and there aren't many people, we intercept them. If it's busy and crowded, we wait until they're done unloading before making a move."
That afternoon, Jin'en accompanied Porsette through a second round of "opening a door behind him" at the training ground.
This time, he changed the exercise. Instead of standing still and waiting for Porsette to teleport over, he simulated being pursued while moving.
Jin'en walked briskly from one end of the training ground to the other. Porsette opened a door behind him, with her arrival point required to fall within two steps ahead of him along his path, with no more than an arm's length of error.
On the seventh attempt, Porsette appeared behind Jin'en to his right and had to run another half step before stopping.
Jin'en stopped. "Why were you off?"
"You turned." Porsette panted. "I calculated the arrival point based on your speed going straight. You veered right halfway through, and I couldn't keep up."
"That's why you need to watch my shoulders," Jin'en said. "Whichever way someone moves, their shoulders move first. Watching their feet won't help. The feet follow the shoulders."
Porsette thought for a moment, then nodded.
On the eighth attempt, she kept up.
Jin'en called a halt and told her to rest.
Porsette didn't push herself. She leaned in a corner and took a couple of breaths.
Broken Rainbow leaned halfway in from the stairwell, a braided cord clenched in her hand, and watched for a while with her head tilted.
"Looks like you've practiced enough." Broken Rainbow walked into the training ground, winding the cord back around her wrist. "I'm coming with you tonight."
Jin'en glanced at her.
"You just spent last night watching the rear alley."
"I left something there," Broken Rainbow said. "If someone goes back to rummage through the boxes, I'll know. Nothing tonight matters more than following the van."
Jin'en didn't object.
At ten that night, the three of them split between two cars.
Jin'en followed the silver van with Porsette.
Daffodil's car traveled two streets away along a parallel route.
Broken Rainbow wasn't driving. She crouched barefoot on the low wall opposite the old building's rear alley. Only after Old Zhou finished loading and the van started moving did she slide off the wall and turn deeper into the alley.
The van headed toward New Hethereau District. Before taking the elevated road, it stopped for over a minute on a stretch of old road with few streetlights.
The driver didn't get out or cut the engine. He seemed to be waiting for something.
Jin'en pulled over and switched off his lights. Spreading his Spatial Perception, he detected a black sedan slowing as it approached a point roughly fifty meters behind the van. Its hazard lights flashed twice.
The van set off again, the black sedan trailing at a moderate distance.
"The one behind is the escort," Jin'en said.
Porsette leaned against the window and glanced back. "It's following closely."
"Yeah. No rush. Let's see where they're going first."
The two vehicles left the elevated road and entered a warehousing and logistics park on the edge of New Hethereau District.
The park's streetlights were on, but there were few people on the roads. Shipping containers and warehouse fronts stood in dense rows.
The van stopped outside a warehouse bearing a "Hengyun Logistics" sign. The black sedan parked diagonally opposite, leaving its engine running.
Jin'en parked at a fork near the park entrance, two warehouses away.
"Someone's meeting them at the warehouse door," Porsette said.
Jin'en had seen them.
The warehouse's roller shutter rose halfway, and two people came out to meet Old Zhou.
Old Zhou carried boxes from the rear of the van, and the people receiving them passed them into the warehouse. They moved quickly.
"That black sedan." Jin'en stared at the parking space diagonally opposite. "The driver hasn't gotten out, and nobody in the passenger seat has moved either."
"Waiting for them to finish unloading before leaving?"
"Maybe." Jin'en thought for a moment. "Or they could be waiting for something else."
Just as he finished speaking, the black sedan's passenger door opened.
A man in a dark jacket got out, walked around to the van, and exchanged a few words with Old Zhou.
Old Zhou nodded and continued unloading.
The man didn't return to the car. He leaned against the side of the van and watched Old Zhou work.
"This one's different from Old Zhou." Porsette's voice was quiet. "He can see the park entrance from where he's standing. Old Zhou's unloading with his back to it. He can't see anything."
"He's keeping watch," Jin'en said.
"Right." Porsette paused.
"And the angle he's standing at happens to block the people at the warehouse door from seeing into the park."
Jin'en turned that detail over.
Old Zhou unloaded, the man in the jacket kept watch, two people inside the warehouse received the goods, and the black sedan's driver waited in the car.
One carrying, one watching, two unloading, one driving. Their roles were clearly divided.
"Four," Jin'en stated the count.
"Two in the warehouse, Old Zhou and the man in the jacket outside, and a driver in the car. Five altogether."
Porsette said nothing, her fingers tightening inside her cloak pocket.
"We're not intercepting them tonight," Jin'en said.
Porsette turned to look at him.
"Too many people, too much open ground. One or two could easily escape." Jin'en reversed a little, turned farther into the side road, and cut the engine. "But we can find out where they go after unloading."
The van's rear doors closed.
Old Zhou went around and climbed into the driver's seat. The man in the jacket returned to the black sedan.
The two vehicles left the park one after the other, heading north before turning onto an old freight road without streetlights.
Jin'en followed with his lights off, using the red glow of their taillights to find his way.
Porsette watched the road beside him, then suddenly spoke. "Big brother, I've saved coordinates for this road."
"From when?"
"We passed through on the detour back from the docks last time. There's an abandoned freight station at the end. Wasteland on both sides, no turnoffs." Porsette took off her hat and laid it on her knees. "If they decide to attack or switch vehicles here, we won't even have anywhere to run."
"That's why we're not intercepting them here." Jin'en slowed, widening the gap between them and the two vehicles ahead. "Remember where this road is. It'll be useful later."
The two vehicles finally stopped inside the freight station.
Jin'en didn't follow them in. He stopped at the edge of the wasteland outside the station and turned off his lights.
Two people got out of the black sedan. Old Zhou opened the van's rear doors as well, and they gathered to talk. The wind scattered their voices, making them hard to hear.
Jin'en narrowed his Spatial Perception to its finest resolution and swept the freight station. There were no other living signatures inside, only those few people.
"They're switching vehicles here," Porsette said suddenly.
Jin'en followed her gaze-another vehicle, a white truck, stood beneath the station's shelter. Mud covered half its license plate, making it illegible.
With the van's rear doors open, they began moving boxes into the white truck.
"They're switching vehicles to break the trail," Jin'en said.
"The van goes back to the old building, and the white truck goes somewhere else. If we keep following after that, we won't be following the van anymore."
"So do we follow the white truck or the van?"
Jin'en thought for a few seconds.
"The van," he said.
"Old Zhou runs on a fixed schedule. The white truck is temporary. If we lose it, we lose it. We won't lose Old Zhou."
The white truck left the freight station first, heading east.
The van waited a few minutes before starting up and turning back.
Jin'en waited until the white truck's taillights disappeared at the end of the road before restarting his engine and following the van from far behind.
Porsette stayed silent on the return journey, only speaking when they were nearly at the old building's rear alley.
"Old Zhou will come to move cargo again tomorrow."
"Yeah."
"What if we intercept him tomorrow and force him to tell us where the white truck went?"
"Old Zhou might not know where it went." Jin'en turned into the alley entrance across the street from the rear alley and cut the engine. "He's just a cargo handler. The man in the jacket is in charge."
"What about the man in the jacket, then?"
"He left in the black sedan tonight. He might come again tomorrow."
They got out and made their way around to the rear alley.
Daffodil was already there, leaning against the low wall at the alley entrance. Instead of a knife, she held a bottle of water.
"The white truck at the freight station headed east." Jin'en recounted what had happened. "How familiar are you with the routes out east?"
"Very." Daffodil unscrewed the bottle and took a sip. "There's a secondhand market out there. Busy during the day, deserted at night.
If the white truck went that way, they might have a warehouse near the market."
"Take a look tomorrow during the day."
"I'll go," Daffodil said.
"You spent all night following them. Stay out of sight during the day. If Prism's people have memorized your plate, switch cars."
Jin'en didn't argue. He nodded.
On the way back to the mansion, Porsette leaned back in the rear seat for a while without falling asleep. She only got out when they reached the hidden entrance in the side corridor.
Broken Rainbow was already waiting at the door, barefoot on the threshold, the braided cord wound around her wrist.
"Wasted trip?" she asked.
"No." Jin'en briefly explained the vehicle switch at the freight station. "Daffodil will investigate the white truck out east tomorrow. We stay put."
Broken Rainbow tilted her head. "What about Old Zhou?"
"Old Zhou isn't going anywhere." Jin'en walked into the corridor.
"He gets to the back door at five forty every day, then buys breakfast at the corner after unloading.
Same route, same time. Intercepting him won't be hard."
"When do we do it?"
"Once Daffodil finds where the white truck is based.
If we intercept Old Zhou, Prism will replace him, and what he knows will become outdated.
Let his information serve its purpose first."
Broken Rainbow unwound the braided cord and looped it around a few times. Without asking anything else, she turned and headed to her room.
The following afternoon, Daffodil sent word back.
The white truck was parked among a row of warehouses behind the secondhand market in eastern New Hethereau District. One warehouse had a new door lock and black cloth covering its windows.
She watched until three in the afternoon and saw someone carry two empty boxes out of the warehouse and throw them onto a garbage heap.
"The boxes were empty," Daffodil wrote on the note. "But they had Prism marks on the sides. There should still be things stored in the warehouse."
Jin'en finished reading the note, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
That evening, he took Porsette to the alley behind the old building.
Old Zhou arrived at five forty sharp. After moving the goods, he dusted off his hands and headed toward the breakfast stall on the street corner.
Jin'en stepped out at an angle from the alley entrance, blocking his path.
Old Zhou glanced up. His steps did not stop, but he rubbed his hand against his trouser seam.
"Old Zhou," Jin'en said.
Old Zhou stopped.
"What's inside the boxes you move?"
Old Zhou did not answer. He turned his head and glanced toward the breakfast stall on the corner.
Jin'en followed his gaze. The stall owner was clearing the tables and was not looking their way.
"How many years have you been moving them?" Jin'en asked again.
"Three years." Old Zhou's voice was steadier than expected.
"I move goods. I don't know what's in the boxes. Give me boxes, and I move them. Once I'm done, I get paid."
"What's the man in the jacket called?"
Old Zhou paused. "Don't know his name. They all call him Old Zheng."
"Is Old Zheng coming tonight?"
"He comes every other day," Old Zhou said.
"Not today. Tomorrow."
Jin'en stepped back half a pace, clearing the alley entrance.
"When you move the goods tomorrow, slip an extra note into the third box. Write down where you set out from every day and where you change vehicles," Jin'en said. "Once you've put it in, leave. Don't worry about what happens after that."
Old Zhou did not agree right away. He stared at Jin'en for two seconds.
"My grandson goes to school in Miguel District," he said suddenly.
"No one will touch your grandson." Jin'en tilted his head. "Once you've put the note in, what happens after that has nothing to do with you."
Old Zhou looked away and headed toward the breakfast stall.
Porsette stepped out from behind the low wall at the alley entrance and came to stand beside Jin'en.
"Will he put it in?"
"Yes." Jin'en watched Old Zhou's retreating figure stop in front of the breakfast stall. "He doesn't want trouble, and he doesn't want to lose this job. Putting in a note lets him avoid offending either side. He'll do it."
Porsette was silent for a beat.
"Big brother."
"Go ahead."
"When Old Zheng comes tomorrow, can I save a coordinate at the vehicle-switching spot at the freight station?"
Jin'en turned to look at her.
"I've already checked the place where they switch to the white truck." Porsette pushed her hat up. "If Old Zheng goes with the truck tomorrow, I can teleport beside the white truck when they switch vehicles and take a look at what's inside. Five seconds."
Jin'en thought for a moment.
"Let's see Old Zhou's note tomorrow first. We'll talk once it arrives."
When he returned to the mansion that night, Broken Rainbow intercepted him on the gravel path on the back hill.
"Made a move with Old Zhou?"
"Yes. He'll put in a note tomorrow."
Broken Rainbow nodded and held out what she had been clutching: a crumpled ball of paper.
Jin'en unfolded it. A single line was written on it in unfamiliar handwriting, unlike the handwriting in Prism's annotations.
"Someone slipped it into the mansion's mailbox today," Broken Rainbow said. "Unica found it when she picked up the newspaper this morning. She didn't dare give it to Mother, so she gave it to me first."
Jin'en read the words on the paper twice.
Mandrake, Scarlet Letter Mansion.
The street number was unclear, but they were not far off now.
He raised his head.
"What about the person who put in the note?"
"Unica didn't see their face." Broken Rainbow wound the braided cord back around her wrist, her voice much lower than usual. "But she said that when the person left, they glanced toward that bare tree in the central courtyard."