Kyle’s response was a mumble.
“What was that?I couldn’t quite hear you.”
Kyle cleared his throat.“I said that’s not necessary.I’ll do it.”
Gus nodded slowly.“I thought that was what you said.”
She turned to go, already impatient to be onto her next task.She’d wasted enough time on Kyle.It might be time to reconsider his role in her organization.Surely, there was someone else on Titan with the skills and knowledge base to act as her accountant/occasional hacker.
“Send the file,” Gus ordered.
“I heard you the first time,” Kyle mumbled sulkily.
One side of Caius’s lips tilted upwards as Gus stopped to fix the man child with a disbelieving look.
“Also, inform me immediately when you find the other Tuann,” she gritted out.
Kyle lifted his headset half off his face, staring at her from under it.“You mean to send it to the gardener.”
Gus stared.
“That’s who requested it,” Kyle insisted, meeting her gaze with a stubbornness she found surprising given how weak willed he was normally.“Unless the gardener isn’t really your boss and you’re just an impostor pretending to be his emissary for some reason.”
His eyes narrowed as if he was giving serious consideration to that argument.He nodded once to himself, his hand drifting to the chair arm and the panic button she suspected his mom had installed on it.
This little shit.
“Of course.My mistake.You’re right,” Gus said with a strained smile.“If the gardener thinks I should have it, they’ll forward it to me.”
Kyle waited a beat before moving his hand away from the panic button.He glared at Gus one last time before dropping his helmet back into place.
Gus turned and strode out of the room, barely noticing as Caius followed.
This encounter had decided her.Kyle definitely had to go.
“That child’s arrogance will get him killed one day,” Caius observed.
“By human standards, Kyle is considered an adult.”
“He doesn’t act like one.”
“No,” Gus said even though she wasn’t sure she agreed with that assessment anymore.Kyle’s behavior in the last few minutes hadn’t been that of a child.He’d shown a cunning and deviousness that was more like what she’d expect from an adult.
It made her wonder if there was more to Kyle than she’d previously thought.If he, like Gus and Caius, wore a mask meant to make others underestimate him.
She pondered that question as they made their way back through the kitchen and into the main dining room where Anandra sat at a table, digging into the large plate of lasagna.Kyle’s mom sat nearby, her face wreathed in a surprisingly gentle smile that disappeared as soon as Gus and Caius stepped into view.
“Finish your business?”Kyle’s mom asked, rising.
Anandra’s gaze followed her, his face brightening when he caught sight of them.
“For now,” Gus said, her tone still polite.
Caius sniffed experimentally.“What is that?”
“Lasagna.There’s just cheese in it though.No meat.”Kyle’s mom smiled at Gus as she said that.“Would you like some?”
“Please.”Caius nodded eagerly.“It’s been ages since I ate.”
