John folds his arms and glances out the small office window into the shop to make sure Briar is still okay before answering me. “We can’t ignore that she arrived right around the same time that this ?all started escalating. They knew where we were. They were likely watching us for a while and we had no fucking idea.”
I drag my hand down my jaw. How could we allow ourselves to let our guard down? I know yesterday was a surprise too, but this close to our auto shop, especially during the day, isunlike them. Grahm must’ve reported in yesterday when the guys grabbed Briar. That’s the only reason this new fellow would show up and shake their routine of only making moves at night.
Taylor nods slowly. He’s leaned up against the far wall, smoking a cigarette and tapping his forehead with his thumb, brainstorming. “That guy wasn’t from Bane Falls. He has to be the connection, but did you see the way he reacted to her voice?”
I nod gravely. He knows her.
She knows him.
“I’m going to report in to the general.” My words hang in the room for a few awful beats. The men sit with it because they know as well as I do what it means.
General Nolan doesn’t leave loose ends. Tired of his work or not, he’s not the kind of man to let innocent people live.
I guess neither am I.
“Syxx?” John looks at me, not as his superior but as a friend. “What do we do?”
My jaw feathers, and I tap my finger over my arm. “I don’t know.” I pause and look each of them in the face. Gale shifts up to his elbows now that Bensen has him all patched up. I take a deep breath. “You trust your lieutenant, don’t you?”
They all nod in unison, without hesitation.
I hold their gazes—a heavy burden I’ve learned to shoulder.
“Good,” I mutter as I walk out of the room and head downstairs. There’s a distinct mildew scent that lives in these old bricks. I sort of like it, if nothing else because it reminds me how cruel nature is.
The lights flicker on as I step into the room I’ve been staying in. It’s always cold in here; the cement walls have been crumbling for at least the last decade.
I lean up against the sink in my room and glance at the mirror. My face is covered in dust and dried blood. None of it is mine, and that thought used to bother me—being drenched inothers’ blood was a living nightmare until I realized that it was either them or me. Then it became simply my reality.
I’m no stranger to the man in the mirror. I’m indifferent to him. He’s cruel and callous, pushes people away because he knows they die easily. And humanity, of all things, is what almost killed him once.
Before calling Nolan, I take a shower. I let it run until the water is no longer red and my thoughts don’t seem as dreadful.
The phone rings once.
“Lieutenant Syxx.” The general’s voice is clipped as usual.
“General?… We had a situation come up. I’m reporting in for clearance and orders moving forward.” I sit at the edge of my bed, my head hanging down.
He’s quiet for a second. “Proceed.”
I tell him about the attack and, reluctantly, about Briar.
“Our intel shows that the man you mentioned arrived in Bane Falls yesterday. If you suspect that he has ties to this girl for any reason, I want you to use her to lure him out. He’s likely our ticket in, and I want himalive. Find that fucking flash drive too.” I hear Nolan slam his fist against a table across the line.
My leg bounces. “Use her, sir?”
He’s never asked me to use a civilian for a mission before. She could get hurt, and she’s already been put in danger twice now because of me.
“Yes, I want their hideout exposed by the end of the month. She doesn’t need to be recovered, so discard her when you’re done.”
My mouth parts, but no words come out.
How did it come to this? How have I lost so much of my humanity that Nolan knows I wouldn’t have a problem doing something so heinous? My eyes widen. I guess it’s because if I didn’t have this weird attachment to her I would follow his orderwith no hesitation. BecauseIam heinous. I picture her sweet smile that she still extends to me even though I don’t deserve it.
Nolan notes my silence with a dramatic breath. “You’ve done much worse, to more innocent people, Syxx.”
I swallow thickly, letting that notion sink in. Is it because she sees me in ways I didn’t think anyone else could? Why do I care what happens to her when I didn’t the others? My jaw feathers as I clench my fist. “I’m aware.”
