I look up.
Briar stands in the doorway, arms folded over his chest, face unreadable. The light from the hall cuts across his features, sharpens the planes of his cheekbones. For a second, I think he’s going to kill me.
But he doesn’t.
He steps into the office, closes the door behind him. The silence is thick.
He looks at the photos on the wall, then at me.
“Curiosity again,” he says.
I nod, throat dry.
He leans against the desk, close enough to knock me off the chair if he wanted.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
I meet his gaze. “I don’t know.”
He nods, as if that makes sense.
“Brooks wasn’t just a friend, was he?”
Briar’s jaw works. “No. He was the only reason I survived training. The Director wanted me dead by my first year. Brooks and I went through levels together, graduating with honors,much to the Director’s chagrin. He kept me alive against all odds. I owe him my life.”
I process this. “Why tell me?”
He shrugs, a motion that seems so ridiculous coming from someone of his size. “You like to know things. Better you hear it from me.”
He glances at the open laptop, the still-unlocked drawers, the photo on the desk.
“You know the difference between you and me?” he asks.
I wait.
“You need to understand. I don’t.”
He closes the laptop, picks up the photo, folds it, and slides it into his back pocket.
Then, he leaves the office.
I sit there for a long time after, the cold creeping up through the soles of my socks.
Outside, a storm is brewing.
Not nearly as bad as the one that’s starting in here.
I wait for him to return, for Briar’s shadow to darken the hall and his voice to summon me for whatever version of punishment he thinks I deserve.
Instead, ten minutes later, he comes back, closing the office door behind him with a click. He takes the chair across from me, not the desk, and sits with his hands loose in his lap, like he’s about to talk a jump case off a ledge.
“I was waiting for you to kill me,” I say, voice thin.
He doesn’t laugh, just tilts his head. “Why would I do that?”
“I broke into the files. Read everything.”
He shrugs. “If I wanted them gone, I’d have burned them. I’m not the only person with ghosts. Nice job figuring out the code. A little inside joke between Bents and I.”
