dirt, or I’ll tell my boy Henry to put it there for good.”
Knox simply stared at him. “Do it, Gray.”
A shot rang out from the sniper’s nest in the tower, and Mitchell’s head exploded, spraying Eileen with drops of blood and bits of brain and bone. She screamed, and Knox rushed forward to snatch her up in his arms.
Nina’s knees wobbled. She slumped against the brick wall to steady herself as Dani, Rafe, and Conall rushed around the corner.
Dani frowned at the sight of Nina’s blood-streaked face, but all she said was, “We have a firm count. All hostiles are down.”
Sobbing filled the street and rattled across the comms. Eileen was clinging to Knox, who patted her shoulders in an awkwardly soothing gesture. His murmured reassurances should have been too soft for Nina to hear, but with the communications devices, they rumbled over her like he was whispering them against her ear.
She was spared that impossible intimacy when the sheriff rounded the corner of the bank and shouted Eileen’s name. In moments, the woman was stumbling away from Knox, her sobs growing hysterical as she threw herself into the sheriff’s embrace.
Rafe was dragging Mitchell’s lifeless body out of the street, and Dani and Conall hurried to move the poisoned men back into the café, where the shades had been drawn to hide the carnage within.
Nina only had eyes for Knox, who was striding toward her, his gaze fixed on her face. When he reached her, he rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “We need to take care of this cut.”
“Plenty of time for that.” Her heart thudded painfully, harder and faster than it had in the middle of the damn fight. “Smile, Captain. We won, and we didn’t even need contingency plans C through L.”
His smile was slow to form, but when it hit her—
It felt like the first real smile she’d ever seen from him. Warm. Wry. No shadows or lingering pain, just pleasure as he stroked her cheek again. “We make a good team.”
The air between them was charged. Knox leaned closer, and Nina stretched up—
Shouts from a few blocks away broke the spell. All up and down the street, doors were slowly opening, and in a matter of moments, the questions and confusion turned to cheers and sobs of relief.
The difference was instant, electric. The townspeople began to approach them, hesitantly at first, then in waves. Nina shook their hands and patted their backs, tried to take it all in, but it was too much.
Overwhelmed, she turned her face into Knox’s shoulder and tried not to cry.
* * *
SECURITY MEMO
Franklin Center for Genetic Research
No sign of HS-Gen16-A. Our best intel indicates she headed south, presumably to Atlanta. Considering the delicate nature of current relations with the TechCorps, it would be better not to trespass in their territory unless we must.
Judging from her psych profile, she’s unlikely to pose a problem to our operations. We should eschew capture in favor of defensive precautions. Our greatest imperative is to protect our future investments.
Dr. Baudin, May 2080
* * *
NINETEEN
Knox had never felt like a hero before.
He had, by most accountings, done heroic things. There was a tidy list of them in his file, and the Protectorate used to trot them out when they needed a pressure valve for the citizens’ resentment. A public relations win. They’d make a glossy propaganda vid crediting the Silver Devils’ achievements to the Protectorate as a whole, slap a medal on Knox’s chest, and send him on his next morally dubious mission.
Every good thing he’d ever done had only been, at best, a double-edged victory. He’d threaded the miserable needle of expediency a hundred times. He’d found a way either to eke one good thing out of his orders or to blunt their damage as best he could. His heroism had been rooted in not being as terrible as he should have been.
That made it hard to feel good about a win.
Tonight, Knox felt it. How could he not? The party had spilled into the streets of Dalton. Music blared from the open windows of the bar. Someone had strung up little twinkling lights above the outdoor tables, like fireflies blinking in the night sky. Laughter filled the air as children up far past their bedtimes shrieked in glee and chased one another up and down the street.
People smiled at him. Thanked him. Rushed to refill his beer every time he took so much as a sip. Old ladies kissed his cheeks. Old men pumped