Adjudicator

After years abroad, Leslie Lee has only recently arrived in the U.S., adjusting to her role as an adjudicator in the IDES Program, where medical claims are either approved or denied based on strict policy. The job is supposed to be simple-follow the guidelines, process the paperwork, and move on. But when her colleague Shelly dies under suspicious circumstances, Leslie starts noticing patterns in the denials. Certain names, certain cases-too many to be a coincidence. And one name that keeps surfacing where it shouldn't-Ethan Bragg.

At first, Leslie tells herself it's nothing. Then someone tries to kill her.

With no idea who to trust, she turns to her neighbor, Pete Grayson, a retired CIA contractor who recognizes the signs of something deeper at play. While Pete has no official ties to the case, his instincts tell him Leslie has stumbled onto something dangerous. As she digs further, the scope of the deception expands-beyond her office, beyond IDES, and into a larger network with stakes far deadlier than denied claims.

Meanwhile, Amy, a young woman desperate for direction, has fallen under the influence of a handler known only as Sentinel003. Groomed for a mission she barely understands, she is given a single objective-eliminate the mark. But when she fails, it puts her and Caleb, a man trying to pull her back from the brink, in the crosshairs of forces that won't let mistakes go unpunished.

As Leslie and Pete unravel the truth, they realize they're up against more than corporate corruption-someone is using the system itself as a weapon. And in a world where justice isn't blind, it's controlled, asking the wrong questions could be the last thing Leslie ever does.