He cut himself off.
He was listening again. I stayed as silent as I could.
“Understood,” he said at last. “I’ll be ready.”
The call ended with a soft chime.
A pulse of unease tightened in my stomach.
Revenant had asked him to go by himself? Why wouldn’t they want me to go with him when I wastheiragent, not to mention that this was my mission too? All of ours.
‘Suspicious’ didn’t begin to describe it.
I stepped deliberately into the doorway, so he’d see me. Then he turned, startled for only half a heartbeat before that easy half-smile slid back into place.
“Princess,” he said lightly, “you walk too quietly. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
I folded my arms. “Who was that?”
“No one important,” he said too quickly.
Liar.
I walked in further. “Sounded important.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Andrei.”
He sighed.
“It was Revenant,” he admitted. “They want me to meet with the group we’re supposed to deliver the drones to.”
“Who are they?”
“A client of theirs,” he said vaguely.
“And they want you to go alone?” I asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s business,” he replied. “Sometimes it’s like that.”
Another lie.
His voice tightened again. Not much. Enough that if I weren’t trained to hear tension, I would have missed it.
Revenant didn’t want me there.
Why?
I’d been working under their banner for years. They trusted me. So why shut me out?
The punch of suspicion hit low in my stomach.
Were they hiding something?
He took a step toward me. “Katya, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”
“Why can’t I come?” I pressed.
