“Fine.”
“How are you, Caden?”
I sigh. “Tired. Angry. People died on my watch.”Again.
“And now it’s up to you to make their deaths count.”
“They were butchered while hiding in the grass, Dino. Their death was pointless and unheroic. It will never count for anything.”
“Then why haven’t you resigned yet? You’re obviously a failure.”
“Watch it.”
“Oh, you don’t agree? So maybe you should find a better use for your anger.”
“Like escorting your delegation? Yeah, I’m going to do that.”
“Of course you will.”
I cross my arms. “Overconfident much?”
“Josh is going to be in High Hope. If that’s not enough of a reason for you to go, then I don’t know you at all.”
I can’t deny he knows me more than anyone. Josh was always Dino’s favorite, but it’s not like I had anyone but him who gave a damn about me and Ruben during our stay at the orphanage. Years later, I found out that Dino used to be Josh’s late father’s best friend, which selfishly made me feel better because it meant I hadn’t done anything wrong to make him prefer Josh over me. “Finn said we should leave in three days.”
“That’s the plan. One more person will join you, the right-hand man of Assembly Member Lock.”
I snort. “Him?”
“Unfortunately, but I need to pretend I’m playing ball.”
“Pretend?”
“When a member of the assembly is directly feeding the general private information, I pretend.”
“You mean Lock? You can expose him.”
“And lose my best way of feeding the general crap?” Dino shakes his head. “Unlikely.”
“You do remember I’m a Defender, right? The general’s my boss.”
“I didn’t reach this position by misjudging people, Caden, and if I can’t trust you, I can’t trust anyone.”
His words mean a lot. Deep down, I will likely always remain the kid who desperately wished to impress him.
“I have a question about Hector,” he says.
My stomach tightens. “What about him?”
“What were his exact words about a plague?”
I try to remember. “He didn’t go into specifics. He just said that a plague is coming and we’d better keep our distance.” I watch him closely. “Was he being literal?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can tell you know something.”
He nods, heaviness in his eyes. “For years, we’ve been in contact with small settlements across Colorado and beyond to share intel. One of those settlements is called Saratoga, up in Wyoming. We haven’t been able to reach them for the last two months. The last we heard was a radio transmission mentioning that they had lost two people on patrol. They couldn’t find the bodies, just a lot of blood and a piece of skin that was likely torn from a gunshot. It had scales on it. They suspected their men might have been attacked by wild animals.”
