This is the man who tortured people for information. Who made witnesses disappear. Who spent years becoming the Committee's monster.
This is also the man who sits up at night reading children's stories in terrible Arabic because a kid who lost everything needs to know someone cares whether he survives his nightmares.
Dylan finishes the chapter. Closes the book. His hand stays on Khalid's shoulder for another moment. Making sure the nightmare is truly gone.
Then he stands. Moves toward the door.
I retreat down the hallway before he can catch me watching. Make it back to my room. Close the door.
My heart pounds. Not from fear. From something else entirely.
Attraction.
Not to the dangerous operative who can kill with his bare hands. Not to the interrogator who spent years breaking people for information. But to the guardian who checks for nightmares and reads stories in terrible Arabic because a traumatized kid needs someone to care.
Getting attached to Dylan means caring about someone the Committee wants dead. Means investing in a future that might not exist if Webb finds us before we finish building the case.
But watching him with Khalid, some risks are worth taking.
My door opens. Dylan stands in the hallway, backlit by the dim emergency lighting.
"Saw you watching. You should be asleep."
"So should you."
"I'm on second watch. Mercer rotates out in two hours." Dylan doesn't move. Just stands there studying me. "Khalid has nightmares three, four times a week. Sometimes more. I check on him. Make sure he doesn't wake up alone and afraid."
"You're good with him."
"I'm adequate with him. There's a difference. He deserves better than someone who's trying to figure out how to be human again. But I'm what he has. So I do the work. Read the stories. Check for nightmares. Try not to fuck up too badly."
"He chose to testify because of you. Because he knows you'll protect him while he does it."
Dylan's expression shifts. Guarded. Uncertain.
"You should rest. Tomorrow we map Webb's network. Find out if there's someone above him pulling the strings. Build the case that destroys them all." He moves to leave, then pauses. "And Reagan? Don't get attached. People I care about have a bad habit of dying. You're safer if I keep you at arm's length."
He's gone before I can respond.
But the warning comes too late.
Already attached. To the investigation, to Khalid's quiet brilliance, to watching Dylan try so hard to be worthy of a traumatized boy's trust.
When the Committee finds us—and they will find us—I'll have more to lose than my investigation.
I'll have people who matter.
6
DYLAN
Sarah's analysis waits on my screen when the morning watch rotation puts me at the main terminal.
Subject line:Systematic elimination confirmed. Apartment breached.
The file Tommy compiled overnight lays it out in clean, brutal detail. Charlie, Ellen, the barista—not random hits. A coordinated sweep. The Committee followed Reagan's digital footprint backward through every contact, every source, every conversation. Working her investigation like a roadmap to everyone she talked to.
Four hours ago, they found her apartment.
