Chapter Two: Ninety Seconds

Lin did not leave the medical center until four in the morning. Serge stopped him at the staff exit, searched the cleaning cart twice, and ordered security to inspect his locker. The memory wafer inside Lin's shoe felt like hot iron. He was lucky: they confiscated his jacket but found his wet shoes too filthy to touch and passed a scanner over them without care. “Not one word about tonight,” Serge said, handing him a nondisclosure agreement. “Sign.” Lin read the final clause. “Two hundred thousand euros for a violation?” “Then forgetting should be easy.” Lin signed. A cleaner drowning in debt would naturally fear two hundred thousand euros. They wanted him to behave exactly as expected.