Page 209 of Broken Oath

Fear stood plainly in her eyes.

Not for herself.

For Wade.

“I heard rumors about Theta while I was searching for him.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“Stories passed between intelligence officers who had been drinking too much. Places where people disappeared without trial or record.”

“A prison?”

“Not officially.”

“What does Warden have to do with it?” Fathom asked.

Sarah looked toward the partial routing code they had recovered.

WARD—N

“Warden controls the transfer network,” she said. “Theta may be one of its facilities.”

“One of them?” Reef asked.

“The rumors never described a single location. People talked about subjects being moved whenever a site became vulnerable.”

Rook looked toward Fathom.

“Can you verify that?”

“Not yet.”

“Who runs Warden?”

“I don’t know.”

“Government?”

“I don’t know.”

Rook’s patience thinned. “What do you know?”

Fathom opened the authorization block at the bottom of the manifest.

A seal appeared.

Silver blade.

Dark wings.

The same emblem engraved on the coins.

The same symbol mounted above Shadow Division’s memorial table.

Every operator looked toward Sarah.

She didn’t appear surprised.