“All right.” Just thinking about this made him want to go to sleep for a year. “But what about Dara? He’s a telepath. He’ll know what I’m planning.”
And tell Sacha, because he’s a traitor.
Shit. He shouldn’t have mentioned Dara’s telepathy. Lehrer already knew, of course, but Noam probably wasn’t supposed to.
“Speaking of Mr.Shirazi...,” Lehrer said. Although he must have noticed Noam’s slip, he didn’t mention it. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he hasn’t been well lately.”
Noam had noticed. “He’s stressed.”
Murder tends to have that effect on people.
“It’s not stress. I’ve seen this before. I should have done something sooner, but...” Lehrer ran his fingers through his hair, a few fair strands falling loose over his forehead. All of a sudden he looked older. Tired. His attention dipped away from Noam’s for a moment, grasp finally dropping from Noam’s wrist. “I told you about Wolf.”
It took Noam several seconds to realize Lehrer meant his brother, not the dog.
And then his own heartbeat was all he could hear.
“You don’t think...” He swallowed against the rawness in his throat.
The manic glint in Dara’s eyes as he’d paced back and forth across their narrow bedroom. The dry-desert heat of his skin. His wild theories, his paranoia.I won’t be the one that kills you.
Noam’s nails dug into the meat of his palm, but the pain didn’t chase this away.
“I’m afraid so. I’ve had my concerns for a while now. I thought perhaps—Dara’s always been high strung, and with his drinking problem...”
Lehrer looked positively anguished. Noam didn’t have time to care about that.
“Are you sure it’s not just—Darahatesyou. Maybe he just—”
“Dara’s fevermad, Noam.”
Was he? Noam struggled to sift through all his memories of the past several months, stringing them together like beads on a thread. It fit. It... fit.
And a part of Noam felt as if he’d already known that.
Lehrer squeezed his knee. Noam barely felt it. “It’s the early stages,” Lehrer told him. “He can be treated. It will take a few months. But it’s possible, if I keep him safe.”
Noam thought about saying,Convenient, how “keeping him safe” also keeps him out of our way.
As if he knew what Noam was thinking, Lehrer sighed. “I know none of this is ideal, Noam, but you’re going to have to trust me.”
“I will. I... do.”
What the hell had this come to? How had he ended up here?
“Remember what I’ve taught you,” Lehrer’s voice said. Noam couldn’t see him, had closed his eyes. “The life of one is worth nothing compared to the lives of many. This is why I chose you as my student. You’re capable of things that others are not. You’re intelligent enough to understand why such things are necessary, and strong enough to pursue what’s right. Don’t disappoint me now.”
Noam floated back to the barracks in an odd haze, his mind drifting far above his body. He took the long way back. He needed time to think.
Think about what? There was nothing to think about.
Just Brennan, who would die.
Dara, who might be dying.
He was walking in circles, had passed the same security camera five times. Somewhere on the other end, a guard was probably wondering what the hell Noam was doing. Noam really couldn’t afford to get caught loitering in the government complex a second time.
And that was another thing. Security cameras. He’d have to remember to take care of those when the time came to kill Brennan.
