Tethers like this cost lives.
“All’s well?” Tems murmured through her earpiece as she came to stand near Gavi.
“All’s well,” she murmured in return. “For now.”
“I’m doing surveillance of the surroundings for your attacker,” Tems asked. Unlike Winter’s concern, Tems took the danger she’d been in and reacted in the way an agent should. With cool, even cold, professionalism. It felt familiar to her, safer. “They must be stationed in the parking structure.”
“Did you send it to Niall yet?”
“Not yet. Are you reaching out to him?”
“On it.”
Sydney sent her coordinates to Niall, along with a quick note about the laser target. She waited until another of Winter’s songs had started and the people around her turned their attention toward the stage.
Niall buzzed her earpiece almost immediately. “Target was unmistakably on you?” he said, without a greeting.
“Yes,” Sydney replied.
“Get yourself inside immediately.”
“Heading in now.” She made sure her back was facing a wall and tapped her phone. When it did, she synced it to her earpiece and played the recording for the analyst. “Here’s what I overheard.”
“Send it.”
She could hear the tension in his voice, knew that he was worried for her, and it made her stomach tighten. “Does the termkumean anything to you? I can’t parse the meaning in the conversation, even though I heard it several times.”
For a moment, there was silence on the other end. Down on center stage, Winter’s harnesses launched him high into the air, and the audience let out a chorus of screams that shook the stadium. As everyone around her burst into cheers, Niall’s voice came back on again.
“Found something on the termku. I’ve traced it to a new drug on the black market in the East. Apparently it was entered into our Eastern databases earlier in the year. Ku. It’s a neurotoxin.”
Down below, Winter did a somersault high in midair and landed on a floating platform. The audience screamed. Sydney felt a warning buzz in her head.
Seah was going to poison the president.
14Traitors Always Stay Close
By the time Winter arrived with Gavi and Sydney at their hotel’s after-party, the dancing was in full swing. From the rooftop, past the lush foliage spilling over from the ledge, Winter could see the entire expanse of Singapore, a glittering sheet of skyscrapers lit up by advertisements and blinking lights.
Gavi clung tightly to his arm and smiled at the bevy of reporters and cameramen that swarmed around them as they entered the space. As she struck a pose for one news agency, Winter glanced to his side and glimpsed Sydney standing a short distance from them, her eyes searching the deck for suspicious activity, an uneasy scowl on her face.
Sydney hadn’t said a single word since she met him backstage after his show. No smiles, either. Her eyes had looked as cold and brooding as ever as she’d fallen into step right behind him and followed him out of the venue without a word. The only giveaway that something was wrong was the tension in her shoulders, a stiffness he recognized immediately as her indication that she was on high alert.
Something had happened during his concert, though he didn’t know what it was.
The instant they arrived, two bodyguards showed up to usher them to a private booth. As they walked, Gavi leaned up to Winter’s ear.
“Those ministers over there?” she murmured, nodding toward a group of people wearing Singapore flag pins on their lapels. “They were in the box with me and couldn’t seem to care less about you—and look at them now, coming to the after-party in the hopes of bumping into you.”
“Maybe they’re here foryou,” Winter replied, giving the group a nod and smile as they passed by.
Gavi flipped her hair over her shoulder and giggled, her nose brushing against Winter’s cheek. “Too bad for them,” she said. “I charge a fee for photos.”
Winter glanced over his shoulder again at Sydney. Her eyes were turned toward the ministers, too, so intently that he could have sworn she was purposely avoiding his gaze.
They reached the private booth on the other side of a long firepit set in a stone table. Dameon was already here, seated across from them with a few others that Winter recognized as some of the local crew that had worked on their set. Winter slid into the seat opposite them with a sigh, while Gavi settled in beside him.
Sydney remained standing at the end of the booth, still inspecting the crowds around her. He tried to meet her gaze, but again, she seemed to avoid him. Winter could feel her presence at his back every time he looked away, and the weight of it made him uncomfortable. He shifted a few times before he finally glanced up at her.
