Kissu knocks his head against my hip.Wiffan safe. Sisans safe.
Some of the cavrinskh turn back to us, others lope out of the space through a tunnel half hidden by a cage.
The ones watching us do so for a moment too long, and I grip my gun tighter. But Fault says, “Get out of here.” And they do.
He looks at me.Go be with your mates.
I turn away.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
RISK
Drift looks at Fault and,as if by an unspoken command, he leaves. No word to anyone, just walks out.
Hazard and Trench’s brows ridges pinch. They cast confused glances at Drift but don’t say anything.
Drift is lucky Fault isn’t the man he thinks he is. He might have caught a bullet the same way the Maker did.
Looking down at him, I’m glad Arc and Shock have Chrys halfway across the room. There’s very little of the man left.
“You’re going to have to report his death to the CSS,” I tell him.
Drift stretches his shoulders. “They aren’t going to like it.”
“Some of them will. Some of them will just be relieved.” Looking at Riann as he follows Kilo in, I say pointedly, “Let our liaison do it. He’ll get a promotion.”
I watch as Trench and Kilo cover the remains and then let my gaze wander through the room. “We’re going to have to figure out what to do with the cavrinskh. The ones that haven’t been chipped can probably be released into the caldera. They don’twant anything but to play and sleep and eat.” Arc’s mouth quirks in a little smile. “They’re juveniles…”
“He never let them reach full maturity.”
“I can imagine why…” Hazard taps through some of the screens. “Some of this research dates back well before he would have been alive. They’re about half the size they’d be in another year. These things gethuge.”
“Like polar bears,” Chrys murmurs as Shock washes her hands.
I nod while Hazard strides close. “Hears thoughts, sees the future… what doyoudo?”
“I know things I shouldn’t know.”
“Really?” He looks like he wants to call me a liar. Instead, he asks, “What do you know about me?”
“I know whatthissays.” I tap his chest, over the tattoo we’ve never seen. “And I know that you drinkthatmuch coffee so you don’t have to sleep… because sleeping might mean you’ll dream.”
He shifts uncomfortably. “I get why the three of you haven’t brought this shit up before.”
“No one wants to know what the three of us do.”
“Since you don’t have anywhere to sleep tonight… I called in a favor.” He winks at me. “Margot is off, but Hannah set it all up. And, because I like you, you can take my car.”
He hands me his neural link.
“Thank you.”
“I might suggest getting Arc out of here before Kilo decides to climb out the other side of the caldera… He’s pretty freaked out about the mind reading thing.”
“Yeah, I know.”
