The room felt colder.
Elias could feel it—something creeping beneath his skin. An unspoken truth clawing its way to the surface. He had chased Victor Crane's ghost through the shadows of this city, only to find something else wearing his face.
Jonas broke the silence. "There's only one way to be sure."
Dave shot him a look. "And what way is that?"
Jonas pulled out another file and tossed it onto the table. It slid across the surface, stopping in front of Elias. He opened it. More photographs. Reports. Scattered bits of intel that didn't quite add up.
But one thing did.
A location.
"Dockside warehouses," Elias murmured, reading the report. "This is where he was last seen?"
Jonas nodded. "Three nights ago. Security camera caught him entering an abandoned loading station. He never came out."
Evelyn crossed her arms. "So we're dealing with something that looks like Crane… but moves like a ghost?"
Lucien, silent until now, stepped forward.
"Not a ghost," she said quietly. "Something worse."
Elias looked at her. "You have an idea?"
She hesitated, then tapped her finger against the photo. "You see him standing in the light," she said. "But where's his shadow?"
Elias's stomach dropped.
He looked again. Crane—or whatever was wearing his face—stood under a streetlamp. The angle should've cast a long shadow behind him.
But there was nothing.
Dave muttered a curse. "What the hell does that mean?"
Lucien's voice dropped. "It means Victor Crane is gone. And whatever's left… is just a hollow man."
Elias clenched his jaw. He'd seen corruption, murder, monsters in suits—but this… this was different.
Jonas exhaled. "So what's the move?"
Elias shut the file and stood. "We go to the docks."
Dave raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?"
Elias grabbed his coat, ignoring the dull ache in his ribs. "Yeah. Because whatever's waiting in that warehouse… I need to see it with my own eyes."
He looked at the photo one last time.
And for the first time, he felt like the hunter had just become the hunted.