Or what Brooke had.
Scarlett shifted slightly in her sleep, her expression peaceful.HadEvelyn sent her? Was this an elaborate intervention orchestrated by whoever Evelyn Reynolds really was? A woman who’d often known more than she should?
Or had Percival tracked her down? We’d lost enough friends to the ghosts of war that maybe he knew what I’d been planning.
Whatever brought Scarlett to my door didn’t matter. What mattered was the choice in front of me.
The gun on the table represented one path—the end of pain, of failure, of memories that wouldn’t stop replaying.
The woman sleeping on my couch represented another—a second chance, not at happiness, perhaps, but at purpose. At being useful again.
I couldn’t save Brooke from what happened that day. I couldn’t be the man I’d been before Afghanistan. But maybe I could be something else—someone who made sure Scarlett never faced the dangers Brooke had.
Someone who kept her family safe.
Herfamily?
No.
Myfamily.
Chapter 42
Rav
The terrace feltempty after Brooke vanished up the stairs. Around me, couples continued their evening—a woman in a red dress posing against the battlements while her boyfriend tried to find the right angle, an elderly couple sharing gelato on a bench, two teenagers sneaking kisses in the shadows.
Owen.
The name continued rattling around my brain.
How excited she’d seemed to see him. The way he’d wrapped himself around her, hands splayed possessively across her back. The way she’d walked up the stairs, past the guards, with him.
He’d done something with their research. The phoenix? The Greek Fire? Andshewas involved with their research?
I pulled out my phone and texted Percival:Who’s Owen?
They’d been working together for years. If anyone would know, it would be Percival.
The text came back:Lab partner - between GWOT and Pendragon
That didn’t explain anything. Unless she’d been playing us? CouldBrookehave been the other mole inside Pendragon allalong? Not a chance. She’d been furious when we couldn’t figure out what role the robot dog had played.
Percival texted again:He there?
I started typing a confirmation, but deleted the text.
Why would he ask that?
I wandered farther from the guards, so they wouldn’t hear me. I touched my earpiece, switching the microphone from the Reynolds channel to Pendragon’s frequency. “This is Rav. Percy, who the fuck is Owen?”
“We found some evidence that he was at Martinelli’s lab,” he said.
Câlisse de fucking tabarnak!“She just left with him.”
Bobcat cut in, “She what?”
“Is there any,” I growled, “and I mean any, chance she’s working with them?”
