The blade pressed a fraction closer to Emerson’s throat. “I know about the Silo Identification forger, too.” She didn’t needto read his mind to know he believed her. Audrey’s grip on the knife steadied. “I decide what I’m ready for.”
A beat.
“You want me involved? Then we start there. What’s your plan?”
11
“I’m not going to lie to you, not like everyone else,” he said. “You can remove the weapon.”
Emerson was completely still, making no move to touch or lower the blade. His eyes were locked on Audrey’s face, only shifting slightly as he visibly calculated how candid he should be with her.
Audrey shook her head, deliberately pressing it just a bit deeper into the thin skin beneath Emerson’s jaw. Her fingers wrapped around the handle. She did not intend to hurt him but kept looking for any twitch of fear, defiance, or a physical attempt to escape. Would he protect himself or something else? She was about to find out.
A second tablet on the nightstand chimed. Red numbers shone in the corner of the screen.
12:28:37.
With the knife held firm in one hand, Audrey reached out and dragged the tablet closer across the nightstand with her free hand, careful not to shift her weight or relax her guard on Emerson.
“Don’t,” Emerson said through clenched teeth, but he couldn’t stop her. Not with the knife still digging into his flesh.
She angled the screen toward herself and read the notifications. The countdown wasn’t the only thing running. A second panel had opened beneath it, displaying live data and one line in red:IDENTITY VERIFICATION: COMPROMISED.
She held the device up to his face. “Start talking,” she said.
He glanced at the tablet, then back at her. “I've tracked the Voírían Separatists for years, especially your mother. I want her brought in to face what she's done.” His back stiffened. “Sophia is why my adoptive family is gone. After Nomac, I made it my purpose to find her—not simply as an agent, but for the people I lost. This is all I have left.”
His words left her insides knotted and her hands clammy. She did not dare loosen her hold. “Which actions are you referring to?” she asked desperately, caught between dreading and needing the truth.
The tablet on the nightstand dinged again. Emerson didn’t look at it, but Audrey did. The timer was still counting down from just over twelve hours. Before she could study it further, Emerson interrupted. “I was talking about the Nomac terrorism incident, specifically,” he said.
She remembered something about that place on his tablet, but gave him a questioning look.
He continued. “I was a junior systems analyst with the Aggregate Oversight Council when it happened. I watched the casualty projections rise. Entire regions went dark. Multiple moons in the system lost contact with each other for four hours.”
His throat moved under the sharp metal, voice nearly a mumble. “My adoptive family was inside one of the buildings,” he managed, his walls noticeably fracturing. “They burned before anyone could get to them. Just one piece of your mother’s and Ryker’s plan.”
At the mention of Sophia, a memory rose in Audrey. Her mother’s bare feet on the cold kitchen tile, her hands firm and voice stern as she corrected Cary’s grip on the knife.Control the blade, she’d said, guiding Cary’s trembling wrist.Never let it control you.
“Tell me what you want with me,” Audrey repeated, trying to get her thoughts under control.
The tablet chimed. Emerson glanced at it again.
Audrey frowned. “What?”
“Movement in Tolusa,” he said.
“My mother?”
He paused, “Before I say more, understand—the stakes are high. I’ve waited five years for this. If you cross me, I won’t just turn you in for the murder. I’ll kill you.”
His certainty was a cold, immovable thing.
“I understand,” Audrey said.
“Your mother is my goal. The Aggregate cares about what you know, but you’re not the main objective.”
“Stop reducing me to a category,” Audrey snapped. “You’ve watched me for years. I saw your files—you tracked my mother across planets, but I’m just incidental?”
