“Everyone in Eureka that day who helped fight off the Barclay’s mercenaries. I told her how you handled yourself with Levi. Leeanne was impressed,” Ambrosia says.
Normally, I might’ve preened over the praise. “Listen. I want you to come on the run. This could be a good training exercise—get you a feel of what we’re tasked with sometimes.”
“Sure,” I say.
But on the inside? I’m rattled to my core.
Going out on a supply run potentially means leaving Proctus’s borders and leaving Ezra and Atlas—
So, Atlas has crept in there now.
No wonder I’ve been distracted.
Ambrosia leads me to the armory. My HK-47 hangs suspended on the wall at the far corner, locked until I type in the specific code assigned to me. Her gaze is nothing but cold disapproval. Ambrosia vouched for me to join the guard, but maybe she’s starting to regret her decision.
The HK slides from its clasps and into my gloved hands. I stand there for a moment, maybe a moment too long, to cover the tremors.
Ambrosia looms behind me.
“Is this going to be a problem, Conin?” she asks.
“Is what going to be a problem?” I say, dubiously.
“I’ve noticed your hesitancy with a gun in target practice. Is having one on your person going to be an issue?”
Of course she noticed.
“No.”
“Are you sure? I can’t have you freezing up out there.”
“I promise it won’t be.”
“You’ll tell me if it does become a problem?”
“Yes.”
She assesses me again.
“Good, let’s go.”
Dread comes rushing back in waves.
Chapter 55
Conin
The van bounces along the winding boreen. The road worsens the farther we go, instilling trepidation in my chest that can’t be placated. The farther the distance from Ezra, the more that fear grips me. Distancing from Atlas is certainly not helping, either.
“I thought you said you didn’t know Proctus’s location,” I say, exuding some of Ezra’s signature sarcasm.
“It wasn’t a lie,” Matt admits sheepishly. “There’s miles and miles of dead trees and forest. Without a GPS or signal, it’s easy to get lost.”
“Besides, Ambrosia’s the only one here with the coordinates,” Mafu says. He chuckles.
I turn to her, peeved. She doesn’t seem perturbed at all. “Why aren’t you a part of Leeanne’s elite, then?”
Ambrosia ponders this question for a minute.
