Six teams tracked him.
Two members each, spaced across Helior Prime's nightlife grid, rotating angles and data sources so no single failure would matter. One pair followed him through street-level cameras. Another rode public transit feeds. Two more stayed mobile in unmarked ground cars. The last pair worked from rented rooms with optics pointed outward, logging timestamps and behavior instead of faces.
They didn't coordinate in real time. They didn't share sightlines. Every team reported directly to Velkhar, the way Iron Mandate liked it.
Xavier walked as if he knew that. He hadn't spent the six days planning and fucking Arlen all the time, he was watching everything. He knew exactly how many people were after him and their routines when he went out in the guise of shopping or chilling.
