And I know, deep down, that no matter what we say or don’t say next, last night changed something.
Again.
An exhausted yawn pulls my mouth wide as I tap my fingers against the table and stare out into the rainy afternoon beyond the window.
Ego comes in and drops into her seat, unceremoniously ripping off the bandage.
“Gideon’s been captured.”
“What?” Cato and I ask in unison as my attention snaps to the present.
She shoots Cato a wary glance. “Leif just left. Their group has confirmed that at least three of the High Commanders are in town. Two of the bigshot human officials are here, too. They’reall staying somewhere in the high-rise compound, just like we thought. Gideon, apparently, went off-book and tried to find out more, but he was caught. He’s being held at the prison in the northeastern quadrant.”
“What’s Leif doing about it?” Piper demands.
“You know how it is,” Ego says with an apologetic grimace. “If you get caught, you’re on your own. We’re trying to pool resources right now and determine if there’s anything we can do, but it’s pretty likely…”
Cato sighs as she trails off. “He’s fucked.”
“You’re sure he’s at the northeastern prison?” I ask, and Ego nods. “Well, that’s a start. It isn’t nearly as secure as the one in City Center.”
She shuffles through a stack of papers, then tugs out a few before glancing beside her. “I’ll pull the notes I have on their setup there. Piper, want to help me look for weaknesses in the surrounding area?”
“Sure,” Piper says with a quick fist bump.
Ego’s attention returns to me. “We have a few contacts in the quadrant. I’ll see if I can get any intel.”
“We can’t risk our people for this,” I warn, and Ego cocks a brow at me. “I’m serious. Cato understands his brother went into this voluntarily, and we’re not sending anyone in unless the odds are stacked in our favor. It’s a gamble I’m not willing to take.”
“What if I told you we were madly in love?” Ego counters.
Cato’s shock fades enough to snort in disbelief. “Gideon is allergic to love, and you’re a walking chastity belt.”
“Ouch,” Ego says, clutching her heart. “Fine. We aren’t in love.”
“Of course you—”
“I did fuck him once though.”
Cato’s mouth hangs open.
Ego tosses him a wink. “Don’t worry, I pretended it was you.”
I sigh. “Can we focus?”
“Right, boss, I hear you,” Ego says, then jumps straight back into business as she turns to Sakane. “Do you still have those logs of the patrol rotations we took a few months back?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think we watched that quadrant very closely.”
“Anything helps,” she responds, before waving her finger between Cato, Jayce, and Sakane. “You three, work on mapping out a schedule for patrols that shows where they’re stationed at different times throughout the day. The more organized we can be, the better.”
Everyone gets to work, only taking breaks for quick meals and doses of caffeine. We don’t stop for sleep and grind through the night, and my head pounds as the sun rises.
Ego and Piper are returning after tracking down contacts, and the walls in the conference room are covered in maps. Potential plans are penciled over streets and in margins, with color-coded pins creating a chaotic pattern.
Everyone is arguing about the next steps and how much risk is appropriate, and the amount of information being passed back and forth is enough to rock my already muddy brain.
I need to be more focused. I owe that to Cato.
