a seat and belted in. "Heaven knows I've been through more than you could ever imagine."
Fausta shrugged. "Fine, but if either of you gets fragged, don't come dragging your broken, bloody bodies to me." She dropped into the pilot's seat and hovered a hand over a control. The illusionary rotors on the slider turned on, mimicking a chopper warming up as they spun increasingly faster. "Buckle in, people. This is going to be bumpy." The Italian woman didn't wait a second longer, and took them into the air fast enough to press the passengers hard into the seats. Pressing forward on the control stick, she catapulted them toward the compound.
Elyssa glared at Michael. He returned her burning gaze with a raised eyebrow.
"What do you want me to say?" he said at last.
"There's nothing you can say. Does you-know-who know about you coming along?"
"I already told him about the spy issue. You only repeated your story three times." The barest hint of a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. "He said your findings were too vague. In other words, he's not risking his assets. So I told him to go to hell."
Cold fear settled into Elyssa. It was all on her now. As usual, Underborn couldn't be counted on to do the right thing. Anger and disappointment clawed at her throat and it was all she could do not to scream curses at her brother. "How could you work for him? How could you?"
Michael glanced around at the other curious eyes in the cabin and shook his head. "Not now, Ninjette. We'll discuss this at a more appropriate time."
Adam's eyes lit with understanding as he met Elyssa's. But he kept his mouth shut and didn't say a word.
"Now is always an appropriate time for gossip," Bella said, her violet eyes bright with curiosity.
Elyssa saw no further reason to hide the truth. If anything, she felt guilty for holding back on them. "Underborn is the one who told me there might be a spy in the first place. He told me he had people inside Maximus's compound who could rescue Justin, but he wouldn't go through with it until I found the spy."
Fausta's head whipped around. "Everything we did tonight was just to save your boyfriend?"
"Oh, Elyssa." Bella tutted. "Why didn't you mention this before?"
Elyssa's heart sank. She'd been selfish. But telling the others about Underborn might have cut out a lot of the unnecessary wrangling and explaining. Thanks to her discretion, a lot of Templars might die. "I'm sorry. I should have told you all from the start."
Fausta slapped the console. "Figlio di Troia! If you ever bring me into something like this again, you'd better tell me everything." Her voice was low and harsh.
Bella touched Elyssa's arm. "Now, now. Don't be too hard on yourself. Judging from the way Commanders Borathen and Salazar run things, they probably wouldn't have listened to you if you'd mentioned Underborn. If anything, they'd be running a top-to-bottom search for the scoundrel."
"She's right," Michael said. "You know Thomas would have overreacted, especially if he knew Underborn had come to you."
"You did the right thing," Adam said.
"Stop enabling her," Fausta said.
Meghan simply narrowed her eyes, as if trying to discern how someone could be so stupid.
Before Elyssa could say another word, the slider bumped down in a courtyard. She noted that none of the Templars present except Michael wore armor, not that it mattered if cursed bullets hit them, but she still felt naked without it.
"Speaking of Underborn," Michael said as they piled out of the cabin. "I know of two secret entrances we can use to get inside the compound."
Fausta threw her hands into the air. "Why do you people not tell me these things before we go?" Her Italian accent was stronger than Elyssa had ever heard it. Fausta retrieved her arcphone and activated a three-dimensional map of the surrounding area. "Show me."
Using his fingers to rotate and zoom the image, he homed in on an alleyway across from the compound, and marked it with a red "X". "There's a hidden hatch in the ground there." He flicked the image and went to the other side of the building where he marked a building. "In the basement, there's a door behind a set of lockers that opens into a tunnel as well."
"If Underborn planned on having his spies use these secret tunnels, why didn't he just have them leave Justin at the exit? Nobody ever would have seen them."