“I love you,” he says against my lips.
“I love you,” I say back. “Be careful.”
When he leaves, I look between Nova and Ellison. “Who wants to help me kill Stella? If Pax doesn’t get to her first, I mean.”
“Me,” Amira says, sighing with aggravation. “But I’d slow you down.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” I tell her.
“I’ll stay with her,” Ellison says. “Nova’s a better murderer than I am.”
Nova gives her a soft smile. “You’re better at cards, though, babe.”
Ellison kisses her, cupping her smooth, dark cheek. “And you’re my euchre partner, so stay safe, love.”
“Always.”
44
“Your work is critical to our mission. Stay the course. On the brothel worker who was killed, get me her killer’s name and I’ll personally see to it that he ends up in a dumpster himself.” -- Decoded message from ILF handler Hiro Tanaka to ILF undercover operative Nightingale
Marcus
I didn’t think it through. What I saw and heard fucked with my head and I acted impulsively.
Niran wanted to kill me, even if he couldn’t go through with it. And Stella, one of my trusted friends, betrayed me.
She asked me before I left for Island Three what would happen if I didn’t return. I should’ve picked up on her eagerness to be in charge back then.
I knew Briar wouldn’t want to leave, but I thought Pax would jump at the chance to get on that sub and get the hell out of here unscathed. My anger blinded me back there, and I believedsacrificing myself for the people I love—Briar, Nova, and Ellison—was noble.
But instead of burying Ingrid and her army beneath tons of rock, I’m striding through camp, my expression overly neutral, like the clone’s always was.
I have to pull this off and somehow do it while I’m dying. My head feels like a bomb that could detonate any second. Sharp pains spike through it so hard it takes my breath away.
One of Ingrid’s soldiers stops and gives me a quick, perfunctory salute. “Do you know where Commander Voss is?”
“Uh ... I think she’s in the Hub.”
He drops his brows, looking suspicious. “Are you okay? You’re sweating really heavily.”
“Well, it is a tropical island.”
I keep walking. I need to puke again. Slipping into a shadow between two buildings, I bend and heave, nothing coming out.
This has to work. I keep moving, imagining a clearing in a meadow. Briar is there, and she’s smiling at me. We’re walking hand in hand, no one else in sight.
Except ... I add Flavius to my daydream. The massive black wolf who’s put his life on the line for me many times is lying in the grass, smelling a bright-yellow flower.
“Commander Wells, Commander Voss is looking for you,” a soldier says. “She’s in there.”
He points at the Sub, yanking me away from my happy place.
My head may actually explode. McClain said my brain swelled last time I used aromium, and the pain right now is so intense that I think the swelling is about to split my skull like a melon.
Just get through this first.
Ingrid’s out in the main area of the Sub, and I count five soldiers around her.
