to trust him with our secrets. This is a delicate time for our movement. We have to proceed with caution.”
Maya blinked and focused on Nina. “Then she burned the file, and we went home. I think she had watchers set on Knox, but if they discovered anything, they didn’t get it to her before … Before.”
Before Birgitte’s quiet revolution had been uncovered.
Before Birgitte had been killed for it.
Nina cleared her throat. “So what do you think?”
“The Silver Devils are legendary killers. Going on a road trip with them is a fairly shitty idea.” Maya shrugged. “But a wheelbarrow full of cash would solve a lot of our problems.”
“Agreed. All in favor?” Nina raised her right hand.
Maya copied her without hesitation.
After a moment, Dani holstered her pistol and followed suit, her head hanging low. “It’s a wild-goose chase,” she proclaimed. “And that’s the best-case scenario.”
“No, the best-case scenario is it’s real, and nobody in the neighborhood freezes to death this winter.” Maya shrugged. “Worst case? The dumbasses try to murder us in our sleep and get a real big surprise when they find out you and Nina don’t need any damn bodyguards.”
“Then it’s settled.” Nina engaged the locks once again, just to be safe, and leaned against the door. “We’ll get there early tonight, see if Clem’s heard anything about them. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough.” Dani shook her head. “It’s still a bad idea.”
Of course it was. That was the part that could make it so much fun.
* * *
TECHCORPS PROPRIETARY DATA, L2 SECURITY CLEARANCE
Recruit 66–615 continues to exceed expectations. If he outperforms the predicted benchmarks during his next evaluation, I recommend we waive the two-year oversight period and transfer him immediately to Protectorate training, preferably on the officer track.
Recruit Analysis, August 2061
* * *
THREE
Clementine’s was the kind of dive bar Knox had mostly seen in pre-Flare vids.
When their jobs required meetings of this sort, Knox usually sent Rafe. He slid into places like this like a knife into a perfectly oiled sheath, like he belonged. Knox, on the other hand, had never been able to look or act like anything but a soldier.
He still couldn’t. The second they stepped across the threshold, gazes swung toward them. Knox slouched his shoulders and deepened his scowl, but it didn’t help. Eyes began to narrow in suspicion as the chatter closest to the door halted.
Rafe swaggered into the sudden silence, slapped a crinkled handful of cash on the counter, and laid his most charming smile on the aging bartender. “Got anything that bites back there?”
Her weathered cheeks turned pink under her white-streaked ginger hair, but she frowned as she slammed a fresh glass down on the counter. “Just my shotgun.”
“A girl after my own heart.”
The bartender’s frown wouldn’t last long. They never did. Rafe had a knack for understanding what made people tick, a knack that had brought them to this dark, cramped little bar packed with obvious criminals.
He’d been the one to coach Knox on how to approach Nina. No one in this business comes in on the level, so tell a little lie first. The one you want them to catch. Then, when they think they have you on the ropes, lie with the truth.
Vaguely, through layers of ruthless pragmatism, Knox could remember disliking deception. When he’d been all shiny and new, fresh off the supersoldier assembly line and convinced you could fight evil with good.
Evil wasn’t afraid of good. Because good people always expected evil to play by the rules, and by the time they realized the game had changed, evil had won.
Knox was only interested in one game now, and Conall’s unusually subdued presence next to him was motivation enough. The muscle cramp that had seized their tech just before they left hadn’t incapacitated him, but it was a useful reminder.
When the Protectorate had withheld treatment from Mace, the team’s medic, to educate them on the importance of obedience, his downward spiral had started with muscle cramps, too.
Gray nudged Knox with his elbow. “Back left corner.”
Knox turned his head and felt a kick to his gut.
Nina fit here. She reigned over her corner booth like a queen surveying her court, her big brown eyes missing nothing. He’d been close enough to her to know they were rimmed with gold, and that her hair smelled like fruit. Her thick eyelashes and full lips and sharp cheekbones couldn’t be described by a word as prosaic as beautiful.
The physical impact of just looking at her was so sharp that Knox jerked away, as