“What’s wrong?” Silver’s voice pulled Nuri’s gaze to his face.
“Apologies.” He freed himself from the Emperor’s hold.
“Where are you going?” Silver frowned as he took in Nuri’s outfit. “It’s almost midnight.”
“To the warehouse in Avery. There’s been an issue that needs my attention.” Nuri started walking past him, but Silver caught his arm and pulled him to a halt.
“Narek, surely whatever it is, it can wait until morning.”
He shook his head. “Someone broke into the building. The police are there now. Majesty, I need to go.”
Silver’s hand slid down his arm, and before Nuri realized his intent, he’d slipped the hovercar key from his hold. “I’ll drive then.”
Nuri opened his mouth to argue, but the Emperor didn’t give him the chance, already halfway down the hall before Nuri could so much as blink.
* * *
“Only twelve units survived the fire, sir.” Keng handed over a holopad with the detailed descriptions of what was broken or had been taken, rubbing a hand over his face afterward. He was older than Nuri by a decade, and looked exhausted.
Nuri had arrived over an hour ago, and had only just wrapped up his discussion with the investigating officers. It was clear that whoever was responsible for this destruction, they’d had insight. Not only had the security cameras somehow been switched off before the infiltration, but whoever had entered also knew exactly where to find what they were looking for.
“They targeted Serenity.” Nuri flicked through the list of items. “The destruction in Section 09 was a diversion.” There was nothing of importance stored in that part of the warehouse, mostly spare parts that could easily be replaced at a relatively cheap cost. But it was located on the opposite side of the warehouse, and once the alarms had been triggered there, the guards had all headed that way. “Someone is trying to prevent our launch.”
“A competitor?” Keng pursed his lips. “I’m having all of the old security footage combed through. If anyone suspicious is spotted lingering around the place in the past couple of months, I’ll have them identified with copies sent to you and the police.”
“Narek.” Silver, who’d been speaking with the detectives on the other side of the room, approached, hands in his pockets.
Nuri and Keng both turned and bowed to him.
“Your majesty,” Keng kept his head down, “I apologize. I’m in charge of—”
“Why didn’t the sprinkler system activate the moment smoke was detected?” Silver questioned tersely, but his eyes weren’t on Keng. They remained locked on Nuri instead, cold and unblinking.
“I’ve ordered diagnostics,” Nuri said. “They were in working order as of last weekend when I had the systems thoroughly checked.”
“And yet, somehow, they failed to respond, and now we’re out millions. Billons, if our launch date is affected because of this.”
He straightened his spine. “I’ll figure things out and ensure the product will still launch as planned.”
“See to it that you do, Narek.” Silver finally acknowledged Keng’s presence with a glare, though his next words were still directed at Nuri. “Open an investigation into all employees here. I want to know how this happened, and want everyone who failed to do their job tonight immediately dismissed.”
“Sir.” Nuri glanced between him and Keng. “If I may interject—”
“Falc has sent a driver for me.” Silver tossed the hovercar key at Nuri. “I’m heading home. Make sure you aren’t late for the morning meeting.”
Nuri caught the key, knowing better than to try and reason with him at a time like this. Instead, he waited until Silver had exited the room, and then sighed and turned to Keng. “He isn’t wrong about the security detail. They’ll have to be replaced. But don’t worry about your position. Once I figure out the real person responsible, CEO Rein will forget all about what he said here.”
Keng had been employed with the company since the beginning and was a hard worker.
“You weren’t even scheduled to be here tonight,” Nuri reminded. “But I’m told you arrived within ten minutes. Your wife must be worried. Go home. I can take care of the rest.”
“I couldn’t possibly—”
“You already started all the right processes,” he said. “All I have to do is oversee them. It’s fine. I have to make a ton of calls, so it’s not like I’ll be leaving any time soon anyway.”
“Still—”
“This is my job, Keng,” Nuri allowed his tone to take on a slight edge. “I humbly request that you allow me to do it without getting in the way.”
