Page 25 of Pretty Little Assassin

“She forwarded a list intercepted from the Primacy. I think it's every omega I've ever protected." Her eyes race over the message again. “He’s going to come for all of them.”

My thumb finds the name tattooed on the inside of my wrist. The skin over the letters has been worn smooth by the same unconscious motion repeated over years.

“How was it intercepted?”

“An unsecured transmission.”

“Primacy does not send unsecured directives.”

The fear disappears from her scent.

“He wanted the VEIL to find it,” she says.

“Most likely.”

“Because he wants me to panic and contact every omega on the list.”

I watch the pieces settle behind her eyes. She moves past fear and into strategy. Smart little assassin.

“Every call exposes another person,” she continues. “Every extraction request confirms another safe house. I’d build the complete list for him myself.”

“He has several names, not the network. He needs your reaction to reveal the rest.”

I watch her process that. I wish she were wearing her stilettos. They would match the danger she exudes.

“Мудак безмозглый.”

Her eyes cut to mine. “What does that mean?”

“Brainless asshole.”

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

Her mouth twitches, but the expression disappears almost immediately.

“He expects me to run toward them and stop thinking,” she says. “So I’m going to think, and you’re going to help me.”

“That sounds less like a request than an order.”

“Would you prefer the stilettos?”

Yes. “No.” My attention drops briefly to her feet. “They are distracting.”

She turns the phone so I can see the message. “Madam can lock down the network and use offline handlers to verify the omegas already named. Nobody contacts a safe house through a channel the Primacy can watch.” I scent her excitement as she outthinks her stepfather. And I want that stiletto pressing into my chest as she glares at me.

“And the rest of the vulnerable omegas?”

“We give him what he wants.”

“A complete list?”

“A false one.”

Now she has my full attention.

Valentina begins typing.