The Velluto Protocol
Six weeks of dead ends. Coded messages. A contact who promised her everything and then vanished. Now Cassidy Warren is stepping onto the shuttle Meridian-9 with a single thread left to pull: a name whispered through back channels and buried in classified research logs, the Velluto Protocol. What began as a routine inquiry into the disappearance of Dr. Henrik Velluto has led Cassidy across a trail of falsified records, silenced informants, and a covert research initiative that powerful interests are willing to kill to protect. Commander Viktor Hesse denies any involvement. Captain Rhea Donovan controls access to the ship's most restricted decks. And somewhere among the scientists, officers, and passengers of Meridian-9, the architect of the protocol is watching her every move. As the shuttle pushes deeper into the dark, Cassidy assembles an uneasy alliance with Dr. Yuki Sato, whose expertise may unlock the protocol's secrets, and Jin-Soo Park, whose loyalty remains an open question. Each clue draws her closer to a truth that implicates some of the most trusted names on board, including Dr. Elena Markova, Dr. Thomas Henderson, and the elusive Elias Velluto, whose connection to the protocol may be the key to everything. But the deeper Cassidy digs, the more she realizes the protocol was never meant to stay buried. With the ship's captain growing suspicious and Mira Volkov circling too close, Cassidy faces an impossible choice: expose the conspiracy and risk becoming the next vanished contact, or walk away and let the Velluto Protocol disappear with her. The shuttle is hours from docking. The countdown has begun. And Cassidy Warren has only one chance to decide who survives the descent.