Page 80 of Black Reign

His answer appears almost immediately.

GHOST: You're coming.

Arrogant bastard.

VESPER: You still don't know that.

GHOST: I know you.

I stare at those three words.

My heart gives one hard beat.

Maybe that's what scares me most.

He does.

Just not enough.

Not yet.

I close the channel and pull up a world map with shipping lane routes.

If I'm going to meet Ghost, I'm doing it my way.

Ghost has never told me his real name. He gives me pieces.

Never the frame.

Maybe that's fair.

I do the same.

Still, Ghost is close enough to Haverhill to receive a plus-one at what entertainment reporters are already calling one of the most private weddings of the year.

That narrows things.

Not enough.

But it narrows them.

My stomach tightens.

I should stay in Europe.

Delete the credential.

Let Miss London Bridge become another joke between us.

Instead, I send another message.

VESPER: Your friends still calling me that ridiculous name?

His response comes a minute later.

GHOST: Relentlessly.

VESPER: I hate them.