The first defection did not arrive with drama. It arrived with silence. Lynda noticed it before anyone said a word. Not in reports. Not in numbers. In absence.

A message that should have come did not. A response that should have followed never arrived. A presence that had always been steady Faded.

She sat at her table, staring at the New York dashboard. No update. No delay notice. Nothing. Was never nothing

Her phone buzzed.

Oliver.

‘’You see it?’’ he asked.

‘’Yes. ’’ A ...