Page 64 of Choosing Stella

I straightened.

“We also need a route in and out that doesn’t depend entirely on Exchange security. I want an exterior vehicle position, secondary exit, and a reason for you to be visible without wandering through the building.”

“The main Halloween event does that.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll need clothes.”

“You have clothes.”

She gestured at her black T-shirt and charcoal pants.

“For the casino?”

“I assumed you owned more than one black dress.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“That almost sounded like a joke.”

“It wasn’t.”

“That makes it worse.”

I reached for my phone.

“We’ll deal with clothes after I talk to Locke. I’m not sending you back to the apartment for them.”

“Geo, wait.”

I stopped.

Her voice was quiet and steady now.

“You’re agreeing?”

I faced her.

I wanted Stella behind reinforced doors until somebody else solved the problem.

She’d warned me before the attack, and taking another route had kept us out of the elevator trap.

This morning, she’d read three cards and described a past I’d never told her about.

I opened the secure equipment list Bancroft had sent me and found the tracker I wanted.

Then I turned the phone so Stella could see it.

“If we’re doing this, you carry one of these. The alert opens audio immediately. Locke gets the mirror. I stay close enough to reach you fast.”

She read the specifications.

“And if I tell you something’s wrong?”

“I act.”

“You won’t make me prove it first?”