Page 103 of Black Reign

Then her expression softens.

“If she doesn’t show, don’t take it personally.”

Too late.

I don’t say that.

Instead I look toward the window.

The Pacific is brilliant beneath the afternoon sun.

For the first time all day, a tiny part of me hopes Vesper doesn’t come.

Because I understand computers.

Systems.

Information.

I understand what happens when someone penetrates a network and what to do when a threat crosses a perimeter.

Jade, Stella, Isa, and Hannah?

Different threat model entirely.

Vesper would survive them.

Probably.

Maybe.

Jade looks like she already has interrogation questions prepared.

Isa is mentally monogramming hypothetical children.

Hannah has apparently accepted that her wedding includes an international cyber-romance subplot she did not request.

And Stella is watching me with the quiet expression of someone who has already figured out more than I’m saying.

Maybe Vesper is safer wherever she is.

My watch vibrates.

Once.

Different pattern.

Not standard security.

Every muscle in my body stills.

The women notice.

“What?” Jade asks.

I raise one hand.

Quiet.