Nina’s chest ached. Every path would hurt someone. If she walked away now, the twins would stay stuck, and the policy would spread. If she pushed forward, Jessa could lose the little safety she had left. Nina thought of all the files she had seen that turned living people into lines. “I will not use your name,” she said. “But I will not pretend you do not exist.”
They moved to a quiet corner of the library, using public computers. Jessa’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. “There was a training document,” she murmured. “They used it when I was still inside. ‘Placement Continuity Strategy.’ If it is still there, it will give us the data to go public.”