I open my mouth to argue, but Saint is already ushering Tana away. She glances over her shoulder toward me, but I say, “It’s okay. I’ll find you in the morning.”
If she even wants me to. After our exchange on the plane, I don’t know where we stand. The notion that my oldest friend is questioning whether shetrustsme is eating away at me like a slow-burning acid.
Once they’re gone, Gray pins me with a harsh look I don’t expect. “Let’s go.”
His cold demeanor makes me uneasy. “Go where?”
“Debriefing with the Authority.”
“Right now? It’s the middle of the night. Can’t it wait?”
“No, it can’t.”
“Why just me?”
“Because you are the only one who risked the entire mission and the lives of your teammates to rescue your best friend.”
I nod tightly, despite the fact that I have zero regrets about my actions. I already let Tana get captured by the Command once. I wasn’t going to let something happen to her again. If none of the leads want to work with me again because of this, so be it.
In the war room, I find everyone waiting for us except Fiona.
Adrienne glances at Gray. “I’m Fiona’s proxy if we need to vote.”
“Vote about what?” I ask, wrinkling my forehead.
“Whether you’ll face consequences for your actions,” Teriq retorts.
From his seat, Kallister gives me a sympathetic look as if he knows I’m about to get chewed out. Teriq wears a cold expression. And forthe first time since I’ve met him, every muscle on Gray’s face is taut with anger.
Yeah.
I’m in trouble.
“You were part of the diversion team,” Adrienne says. Her arms are tight to her chest, and her red hair is pulled back in a severe bun, lending her a more intimidating air than usual.
“Yes,” I say nervously.
“Your objective was to plant decoy charges in the eastern supply tunnel and then retreat, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then how is it you ended up leading a godfucking side mission on the west quadrant of the mine?”
Her condescending tone triggers a burst of annoyance. “You already know the answer to that. I’m sure you’ve already listened to any recordings from tonight’s feed. But if you want me to reiterate everything that went down—”
“We don’t need the details,” she cuts in, her eyes blazing. “We’d simply like to know why you thought you could risk other Modified lives for your own agenda.”
“It was a shared agenda,” I shoot back. “We went there to rescue prisoners, did we not? Well, Tana was a prisoner. An actual one in a cell.”
“How did you get the cell override?”
Adrienne’s question is meant to throw me off, but thanks to Tana’s accusation during the flight, I already considered this, so I don’t even hesitate. “We were given all the security codes in Silver Elite. They rotate every week, but I tried a bunch of them and got lucky.”
“Yes, you got very fucking lucky, Darlington.” She shakes her head in disapproval. “You will never disobey orders again. Do you understand?”
“Technically, I asked for permission, and I was perfectly willing to be left behind.”
Teriq grudgingly speaks. “Saint told her the plane would leave without her if she wasn’t there in time.”
