You decide to **push for the real story**. If Sophie vouched for you, Lena might just open up. > **You**: *"Honestly? I’m looking into Blackridge’s risk culture. You mentioned Marc earlier, and that he's the reason some people left. Does Isabella just let him do whatever he wants?"* The three dots appear. They stay there for a long time. You take a sip of cold coffee. Finally, a block of text arrives. > **Lena Patel**: *"Look, Isabella is meticulous about the rules, but Marc is her blind spot because he brings in massive returns. Every Friday afternoon, Marc pushes aggressive trades that breach the 'Amber Band' in PRAP. Instead of stopping him, Isabella just rubber-stamps his Exception requests to clear her desk before the weekend. Last year, Marc made a catastrophic trade that bypassed the escalation rules on a huge margin call. It almost cost the firm $50 million. Instead of firing him, Isabella buried the audit logs to protect the department's reputation. It's why I quit"* Before you can reply, another message pops up. > **Lena Patel**: *"If you ever need to get something past Isabella's team, just know she hates small talk. Her sign-off on PRAP overrides is always exactly: 'Proceed. -I.L.' Nothing more. If you use 'Best' or 'Regards', she rejects it."* You lean back in your chair. This is it. Actionable intelligence. You know *when* Isabella is vulnerable (Friday afternoons) and *how* she communicates (`Proceed. -I.L.`). This could be the key to bypassing her defenses. You have enough. Asking more questions will be too suspicious, and you are really close to the point of no return. You continue discussing about the party life at Blackridge, the canteen and the social events organized here. You want to evade the attention and close the conversation nicely, without raising the alert. You **Thank her and log off**. --- **What do you do?** - Should I pivot my research to **the target**? [[Research Isabella Laurent]] However, I think that with this last hint from Lena, I may no longer need to check on this side. Maybe we have enough on her. - **Research Marc Dubois**: I need to know more about PRAP, amber alerts and the internal codes. Find out who is Marc... And what he knows. [[Research Marc Dubois]]