“Quite often.”
It was one of Kyle’s most annoying traits.Right up there with his propensity for games of chance and his lack of willpower or anything hinting at self-discipline.
“Oh.”Kyle sounded surprised.“I found something.”
Of course, he did.That was why Gus counted him as one of hers despite his many detractors.
Gus moved to hover over his shoulder.“What is it?”
Kyle ripped off his VR headset with a crow of satisfaction as he flicked a video file onto the monitors.He nodded at the freeze frame of a Tuann standing on the periphery of a crowded bar that Gus recognized.
It was Cat Three.
Located on level ten in the heart of the entertainment sector, it wasn’t the nicest bar.Nor was it the worst.
The Tuann may have gone unremarked if not for the undue attention he was paying to a table of four on the opposite side of the room.His intent focus was probably what made him stand out enough for Kyle’s algorithms to pick up on him.
Transfixed, Gus drifted closer.
“I’d say that definitely qualifies as not ‘belonging’, wouldn’t you?”Kyle drawled.
Gus nodded distractedly, her gaze flicking from the Tuann to the foursome he was keeping tabs on.In particular, the pair of hooded figures seated across the table from two humans.
“Yes, actually, I would,” Gus said softly.
Although she couldn’t see their faces, there was something about the cloaked figures and the careful way they were sitting that triggered warning bells in the back of Gus’s mind.She was betting that if Kyle looked, he’d find no record of their arrival or departure.They’d just appear and disappear as if out of thin air.
It’s how the forty-three were trained.It’s how Gus was trained.
Eight
Gusswallowedhard,wishingshe could see their faces.She wanted to know which of her siblings had decided she was expendable.
With an effort of will, she pulled her gaze away from the cloaked figures to focus on the Tuann Kyle had found.
“Recognize him?”Gus asked Caius.
The camera had caught the Tuann in profile, but it was enough to identify him.
“Can’t say that I do,” Caius drawled with a negative shake of his head.
Gus blinked.Then blinked again.Taken so off guard that she wasn’t quite able to hide her reaction as she shot him a startled glance.“Are you sure?”
There was no way he didn’t recognize that Tuann.Even she knew who that was and she’d never met the man.
Caius lied.
Why?
Now that she thought about it, it was odd for the emperor to send one of his people to track down Caius.That should have been Roake’s responsibility.Gus had expected Kira, or at the very least one of Roake’s elders.
Not Baran.
Granted, the oshota didn’t serve the emperor directly, but he’d sworn allegiance to a man who did.On the other hand, Graydonwasa son of Roake.And Caiuswashis mentor once upon a time.It was feasible that Graydon had decided to involve himself due to their previous relationship.Especially in light of his connection with Kira.
Still, Gus couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more going on here.Something murky and dangerous with the potential to drag her into a situation far outside her scope of expertise.
Graydon wasn’t known for his sentimentality.Until now, he’d been unimpeachable in matters of loyalty and duty.
