“I don’t know,” Karra answers. “I was too busy trying not to get shot to death.”
“I don’t think Elite was in the bunker,” I put in. “But they were definitely on the ground. I took one out before Poppy and I got away.”
I feel Gray’s eyes boring a hole in the side of my face. I don’t turn to look at him.
“Elite is usually reserved for more covert ops,” Gray says. “This sounds like a full-blown assault.”
“It was,” Karra says flatly. “I don’t think their orders were to kill, though, but to capture.”
Adrienne nods. “They recognized Teriq. They probably had dossiers on all of us.”
My gaze finds Kallister’s. “What happened to the Bramble civilians? Nobody’s told me if Mako is okay.”
“He’s fine,” Kallister says gruffly, and relief flutters through me. “We struck a deal with Jasper. He convinced the leader of the Hollow to take in the civilians.”
“Kitty agreed to that? How many made it out of the bunker?”
“Sixty-two.”
My stomach sinks. I remember Adrienne telling me there were two hundred civilians living in Bramble. That means more than half of them were killed or captured.
“We’re not sure on the final casualty count yet,” Adrienne murmurs, as if reading my mind. “I counted about twenty.”
Kallister’s lips tighten. “Let’s just hope the rest were taken prisoner and not lined up against the wall and shot. I suppose it all depends on what your good friend Travis Redden decides, doesn’t it?”
The raw vitriol on his face catches me off guard. Adrienne doesn’t flinch, though.
“I notice you keep ignoring the fact that one of our own people is the reason this ambush even happened,” she says coldly.
Gray’s fingers tighten in mine. His other fist is clenched, pressed against his knee. Evlynne was his friend.
Across the table, Karra doesn’t try to hide how upset she is. “Evlynne would never do that.”
“Evlynne did do that,” I retort. “She linked with me before she went dark.”
Everyone swings their heads toward me, gazes sharp. “She did?” Kallister says. “What did she say?”
“She said, ‘I’m sorry.’ ”
I nearly blurt out the rest of our exchange, but at the last second, I curb the impulse.
Fisher is Travis Redden’s son.
Under any other circumstances, I might say something, but the tension between Kallister and Adrienne is eclipsing everything at the moment. This information is too sensitive. It feels like something I need to keep close to the vest right now.
“ ‘I’m sorry,’ ” Gray repeats. “That’s it?”
I nod, and the room goes silent for several beats.
“Whatever Evlynne did is moot right now,” Kallister finally says, shaking his head at Adrienne. “I told you to wait with this mission. With this ridiculous plan of yours to work with our enemy. We had three Authority members at Bramble tonight. Now one of them is dead and the other is a prisoner. You put our leaders at risk, Adrienne. You put every single person in that bunker at risk.”
Her jaw twitches at the sharp rebuke.
“I’ve been holding my tongue,” he spits out, and he reminds me so much of Uncle Jim right now with his unforgiving tone, those cold eyes. “I voted to work with Redden to take down his father, but I warned you he had no intention of cooperating with us long term. He was using you for your power, so you could corrupt his father. He used you and then he strung you along, acting like a peace deal was actually on the table. I saw through it from the very start, and it disappoints me, Adrienne, that you couldn’t see past that bullshit.”
Her cheeks hollow, as if she’s grinding her teeth. “Don’t speak to me like I’m a child, Kallister.”
He ignores her. “Now, thanks to you, we’re down to a council of three. Your lack of leadership and your haste landed us in this position, and as much as I hate to do it—”
