His eyes find me and he gestures to Wraith and another man whose name I don’t recall. All three of them look at me as Specter waves me closer.
“Am I interrupting?”
“No,” Specter says. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes.” I glance at Wraith, then turn away quickly. He’s the one who ratted me out last night. At least I assume he did.
“You remember Foster?” Specter says.
“Nimble,” he corrects, offering his hand.
I shake it and smile. “New name?”
He smiles, nodding. “Finally picked one.”
I sip my coffee. “Is there a rule about not using your actual names?”
“It’s best we keep those under wraps, given our profession,” Wraith says. “If we ever fuck up and say someone’s code name, finding someone called Wraith is real different from Phillip.”
“Is your name Philip?” Nimble asks, incredulous.
“No.” Wraith chuckles. “Just an example.”
“Alright, yeah, ’cause you definitely don’t look like a Phillip.”
I’m suddenly very curious about what Specter’s real name is. He knows mine, and a part of me wants to know what it would sound like on his lips, but that would tear away my last line ofdefense. My name means a lot to me, which is why I don’t give it out freely.
“I was gonna go to the gym,” I murmur. “If that’s okay?”
“Of course.” Specter glances at his watch. “You’ve got about another hour before it gets busy.”
My brow creases. “What do you mean?”
“The guys will likely be down there around eleven. That’s pretty typical.”
“Oh. Everyone’s asleep?”
“Or something.” Wraith winks at me.
“Right. Okay.”
“Be right back,” Specter says, turning in my direction.
He leads me down a hallway to a door. After opening it, he stands to the side to allow me to pass. I follow the stairs down, noticing how the scent changes. I can smell the metallic scent of weights, cleaning products, and just a hint of chlorine.
When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I pause, taking it all in. Holy shit. I was expecting some quaint little home gym, but that’s not what this is. It’s massive, with a tiled floor, mirror-lined walls, and just about any piece of equipment you could want. Through a wall of glass I spot the indoor pool.
“There’s a sauna back there too,” Specter says. “Dry and wet.”
I whistle low, walking around the space. “This is impressive.”
“We don’t have a lifestyle that makes it easy for us to go to a regular gym, but it’s important that we stay in good shape. We’ve had this for about three years.”
I spot a place against one of the mirrors that would be perfect for a barre, but obviously, they don’t have one.
“Does it have what you need?”
“I can make do.”
