Chapter 2 - The Ghost in a Gray Uniform
Cassian hated surprises.
He especially hated surprises carrying rifles.
“Explain,” he ordered.
Elena moved toward the door.
“Later.”
Cassian blocked her.
“No.”
She stopped inches from him.
For eight months, she had lowered her eyes whenever he passed.
Now she looked straight through him.
“If we stay here arguing, Viktor wins.”
Marcus raised his gun toward Elena.
“And why shouldn’t I put you down right now?”
Elena glanced at the weapon.
“If you wanted to shoot me, you would’ve already done it.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“You think you know me?”
“I know you pace when you’re worried, rub your left thumb when you lie, and keep your backup magazine in the inside pocket because your shoulder holster digs into your ribs.”
Marcus stared.
Elena turned away.
“I know everyone here.”
That statement chilled Cassian more than the gunfire.
She led them into the service corridor behind the office.
The manor shook again.
Smoke poured from the west hall.
Cassian saw two guards trying to drag a wounded man toward cover.
“Where’s security command?” he demanded.
“Compromised,” Elena said.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
“Because the cameras went down in groups of four.”
Cassian frowned.
She continued.
“A remote attack would’ve hit the whole system. Somebody inside shut down specific zones so Viktor’s men could enter without blinding their own route.”
Dante’s expression tightened.
Marcus noticed.
“So there’s a traitor.”
Elena looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Convenient.”
Elena stopped.
“Do you want to accuse me?”
“I want to know why a housekeeper knows more about our security than our security chief.”
“Because your security chief is dead.”
Silence.
Cassian’s eyes narrowed.
“You saw him?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
Elena pointed to Dante’s jacket.
A tiny red smear marked the cuff.
“Because that is his blood.”
Dante immediately looked down.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“What the hell?”
Dante backed away.
“You think I killed him?”
Elena said nothing.
Cassian stepped closer.
“Where were you ten minutes before the shooting started?”
“With you.”
“No. You arrived four minutes before the shooting.”
Dante’s face hardened.
The lights flickered.
Then Elena heard something.
A click beneath the floor.
Her eyes widened.
“Move!”
She shoved Cassian through a side doorway.
The corridor exploded.
Fire rolled through the passage.
Elena hit the floor beside him.
Cassian’s ears rang.
When his vision cleared, Dante was gone.
Marcus coughed through the smoke.
“He ran.”
Cassian pushed himself up.
“Find him.”
Elena grabbed Cassian’s sleeve.
“No.”
Cassian turned.
“He betrayed me.”
“Maybe.”
“You just accused him.”
“I pointed out blood.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Her eyes moved toward the burning corridor.
“That explosion wasn’t meant to kill us.”
Cassian frowned.
“What was it meant to do?”
“To separate us.”
From somewhere deeper inside the house came three slow gunshots.
Then a woman screamed.
Elena went pale.
Cassian noticed.
“You know that voice.”
Elena whispered:
“Yes.”
May you like
And for the first time since the attack began, she ran.
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