Cordero frowns and flips the paper around. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.” The girl in the photo has long blond hair and she’s about the right age, seventeenish. Other than that, she looks nothing like Daryn.
“It’s a grainy image,” Ben says. “I can sharpen it up.”
“Then it’ll be a sharper picture of not her.”
Cordero cuts a look my way. I know she wants me to be more encouraging. Everyone’s working nonstop. We have cots set up outside and most of us sleep here rather than trek back to the motel. “Keep working, Ben,” she says, handing the paper back to him.
“You’re doing great, man,” I add, to be more encouraging. “But try to do better. Faster, too.”
“Definitely. You got it,” Ben says, super earnestly. Then he jogs back to his desk. Literally jogs.
I can’t keep the smile off my face. “See that? That’s an A-plus effort, Cordero. Everyone should work that hard.”
She shakes her head. “You take such advantage.”
I laugh. “What’d I do?”
“Never mind. It’s my fault. I should never have allowed them to see you as War.”
“Nah. They loved it.” Aside from Daryn, who’s not here, and some extremely high-up government people, the people in this warehouse are the only ones who know what we are. Who we are? Whatever.
Until last night, though, the techs only knew in theory, so we did the full kit reveal for them here in the warehouse, calling up weapons, armor, and horses. It was Cordero’s idea. She thought it would motivate the team, and did it ever. We made an impression, Marcus especially. When you get a look at Death, you feel something. I only wish we’d recorded their reactions.
Cordero and I pick up where we left off. This must be the tenth time I’ve answered these questions, but we’re working on my frustration and it’s also her investigative process. I know she thinks she’ll stumble on a clue.
Marcus and Jode stroll in as we’re going through it. Jode takes the chair next to mine, his watch flashing as he drops his hand on the arm. As Conquest, he’s an incarnation of the white rider. Even in street clothes the hints are there if you know what you’re looking for. Under the fluorescent lights, Jode’s blond hair has just a little too much shine. Same with his watch, his fingernails. He’s got some flash. Jode—James Oliver Drummond Ellis by birth—is English, smart as a well-bred and highly educated Englishman, and one hundred percent lethal. None of us would be here if not for ole Drummy. The world might not even be the same. When we fought the Kindred, Jode fired an endless supply of arrows from the back of his white stallion, keeping us from getting overrun by demons. There were a lot of heroes that day but Jode was center podium.
Marcus leans against the wall behind Cordero, gravitating to the back as usual. He trains his glass-colored eyes on me. Quiet, steady eyes. Death stare. Before I got to know him I saw that look as completely hostile. Total turnaround now. Marcus and I are connected like Anna and me—like words aren’t necessary. He had it rough growing up in foster homes around Chicago. He doesn’t say much about it, but it was hard-core survival. Every day. I lost Dad last year, and nothing will ever replace him, but I got Marcus right around the same time. A brother. It was meant to happen, I think. Mom and Anna needed him, too.
Marcus crosses his arms and listens, his gaze moving from me to Cordero. Jode’s attention’s more like a satellite: unfocused and landing nowhere specific but taking in everything. I wrap things up, describing how I’d sprinted after Daryn—the direction Anna indicated—getting the attention of the military police on base, but coming up with nothing. Daryn had disappeared again. Even now I feel the echo of that moment. Brutal.
“Okay,” Cordero says. “What do we know for sure?” She steeples her fingers and taps them together as she thinks. I used to be able to do that. “We know she didn’t come solely to give you the key. It has no real value and she could’ve found a much easier way to deliver it if that was all she wanted to do. She came for another reason. What was it, and what caused her to veer from her plan?”
“How do you know she veered from her plan?”
“I’m making an assumption based on the distress your sister picked up on.”
“You think she saw a threat of some kind and changed her mind?”
“Or had a change of heart.”
Cordero and Jode exchange a look. Marcus drops his head and stares at his feet.
I don’t like this. “Spill, Ellis. Marcus…? Someone, talk.”
Jode looks at Cordero. I think I see a slight nod of approval from her. “What if she didn’t come because of Sebastian?” he asks.
“Daryn might have come for strictly personal reasons,” Cordero adds.
“Ah. Got it. You think I’m the personal reason. Solid theory, but you’re wrong. Daryn would never show up for that reason. She’s dedicated. All Seeker business all the time.” Why are they saying this—to test me? Or do they really think it’s a possibility? “Anyway, this part of the discussion isn’t up for discussion.”
“Maybe it should be,” Cordero offers. “Maybe you should consider that she might’ve shown up to see you and left because she wasn’t ready.”
Marcus crosses his arms. “She could’ve seen your prosthetic.”
“You mean this?” I raise my robohand. It’s capable of fifty distinct gestures, but the bird’s one of my top-used ones.
Marcus is already smiling. He knew it was coming.
“It might have taken even less,” Jode adds. “One look at you could’ve sent her running.”
An image flashes through my mind. Daryn seeing me, then doing an about-face and hauling ass like she’s in a B horror film.
I have to laugh. It’s just so sad. “How is this relevant to anything?” I’m sweating and I can’t sit any longer. I stand and brace my hands on the back of the chair. “Hey, Ben,” I call into the warehouse. “How’s your personal life? You got any rejections you want to dissect with our psychologist-boss?”
Ben jumps up and rounds his desk. “Definitely. I’m the king of rejection.”
“Dude, then I’m your co-monarch.”
“Blake,” Cordero warns.
“We’ll talk later, Ben. Keep after it. You’re doing great.”
Ben spins and goes back to his desk.
Cordero sighs. “This is a relevant line of inquiry, Gideon, because her appearance the other day could be a false lead. She doesn’t seem to want to be found. We have to consider that she might want no involvement in the search for Sebastian. And since she controls the key…”
I shake my head. “I’m not on board with this line of thinking. If Daryn isn’t willing to go after Bastian, we’re nowhere. And I’m not throwing in the towel before we even find her. We assume she showed up because she wants to go after Sebastian, or what’s the point?”
“All I’m trying to understand is why she’d leave without approaching you if she wanted your help.”