My stomach turned to ice. I sank into the chair, scanning the rest of the message as the cold spread to every part of my body.
I have arrived on scene, the email read. Per Talon’s orders, all evidence at the “crash site” has been gathered and logged accordingly. The human officials are all too willing to accept the cover story, as they have no idea what they are dealing with. They know something unnatural happened, but so far their posited explanations range from the mundane to the absurd. I believe the organization to be in no danger of discovery. As you requested, the first boxes of evidence we have taken from the site will be sent to the specified location today. Expect their arrival in no less than twenty-four hours.
Ut ominous sergimus.
Miranda Kent.
“Ember?” Garret’s voice echoed softly across the room, wrenching me out of my daze. I might’ve gone a little pale, because his gray eyes were worried as they met mine. “What’s wrong?”
“Dante,” I whispered, and both he and Riley jerked up at the name. “Dante is part of this. He’s behind the cover-up. This message is to him.”
Both boys came to my side immediately, peering over my shoulders at the laptop screen. “Well, shit,” Riley growled in my ear. “Then we definitely need to visit this ‘specified location’ and see what the hell is going on.”
I stared at the screen, seeing only my brother’s name, standing out from the rest. Dante. All the feelings I thought I’d repressed—hurt, dismay, anger, betrayal—surged up again, making my stomach turn. Why are you involved in this? What the hell are you doing?
The words on-screen seemed to mock me. I was vaguely aware of Riley grabbing a scrap of paper and scribbling something down. “All right, that’s it,” he announced, straightening quickly. “I think we’ve found everything we can. Let’s get out of here before her guards come back.”
I shook myself, following Riley to the door with Garret close at my back. Now was not the time to dwell on traitorous siblings. I would think about my brother, and his role in this whole sordid mess, later. When we were away from the hotel and shady Talon agents who could return at any moment.
But as Riley opened the door and peered out, voices echoed down the corridor, making him jerk back. Through the frame, I saw two people walking toward us down the hall. One was a large man with a thick neck and chest, one of the guards we’d seen with Miranda. The other, walking beside him, was a small, slender woman with long black hair...
...dressed only in a towel.
For a second, my brain stuttered. It was Jade, I could see that, but the woman walking toward us with the guard was as different from the poised, elegant Eastern dragon as a swan was to a chicken. Snatches of conversation drifted to us, with Jade thanking the guard for escorting her back to her room, and how silly she felt for locking herself out. Her voice was high-pitched, giggly and slightly slurred, and she swayed a bit when she walked, as if very drunk. Of course, the guard wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings, being distracted by the beautiful Asian woman in nothing but a towel. But we were still trapped. They were still coming toward us, and if we tried to leave now, the man would definitely see us.
Jade looked up, and for a moment, her eyes met mine through the crack in the door. Slowing, she reached out and snagged the guard’s sleeve, tugging him to a halt in the middle of the corridor. The guard turned, frowning, as Jade rambled on, asking him questions and talking so quickly it was hard to understand her.
Now’s our chance. I nudged Riley and he nodded, silently pulling open the door. But as we stepped into the hall, the guard, apologizing to Jade, started to turn back toward the room. For a second, my heart lurched, knowing he was going to see us. There was nowhere we could hide.
Jade dropped the towel.
My eyes bulged. Riley froze. The guard turned back instantly, his attention definitely not in danger of landing on us anymore. As Jade’s high-pitched giggles rang out in the stunned silence, Garret, his cheeks as red as a tomato, immediately took advantage of the distraction and began walking away. I glanced at Riley, saw him staring wide-eyed at the scene in the center of the hall and punched his arm. Hard.
He jerked, giving me a sheepish grin, and we fled the floor, ducking into the elevators and out of sight.
*
Jade rejoined us in the parking lot fifteen minutes later, fully clothed, sliding into the passenger seat as if nothing had happened. Her serene expression remained unchanged as she shut the door and began putting on her shoes and earrings, not noticing, or choosing to ignore, the stunned silence from the rest of us.
“Well?” she said, finally turning around. “I trust you found what you were looking for, yes?” As she glanced at Riley, her lips curled in a faint, defiant smile. “Please tell me you were able to acquire what you needed from the Talon agent’s room. I would hate to have given you a show for nothing.”
Riley gave a bark of laughter, as if he couldn’t help himself, and shook his head. “I think I’ve been dethroned.” He chuckled as the Eastern dragon raised a brow at him. “The king of BS is dead. Long live the queen.”
GARRET
“Are you bloody serious?” Wes exclaimed later that night. “You’re going to try to sneak into yet another Talon facility? Is our life not exciting enough, or do the lot of you just have some sort of mutual death wish?”
It was late evening, and the four of us were back in the cabin, having explained to Wes what we had found at the crash site. Riley stood in the center of the living room, arms crossed, while Wes watched him from the kitchen counter. I leaned against the far wall, and Jade sat peacefully in an armchair, watching everything in silence. The only one not in attendance was Ember, who had retreated to her room as soon as we’d arrived, claiming that she had a headache and wanted to lie down. She had been quiet and withdrawn ever since we’d left the hotel, probably brooding over her brother and his involvement with Talon. I worried for her; Dante was the one person who could get under her skin and make her question everything.
Riley sighed. “It’s not like it’s a heavily armed secret compound, Wes,” he said. “You researched it yourself. It’s an office building, certainly owned by Talon, but in the middle of a city. There’s not going to be guards with machine guns walking around.”
“You hope,” Wes shot back. “This is Talon. I wouldn’t put anything past them, and you should know better, too, Riley. You could be walking into a death trap.”
“You’re the one who wanted us to uncover what Talon is up to.”
“Bloody hell, I realize that! But I didn’t think we were going to be waltzing into Talon itself.”