Page 41 of Siege of Shadows

One o’clock. In the dead of night, the delivery vans drove out of the underground hangars through a network that took us up to the surface. Only when we were clear of the facility’s reach did our silent procession break up as each van traveled down its prescribed route.

To the regular civilian passerby on the highway, our van would have looked almost too deceptively simple. But our boring, white moving cubicle skillfully hid from view the weapon cases strapped to the wall, the handheld blades and electromagnetic phantom-dispelling bombs tucked in the compartments beneath the black-cushioned benches.

And one of Saul’s rings. It was in a black safe specially fitted against the division separating the driver and passenger seats from the cargo unit we were sitting in. Another van followed a few car lengths behind. The only way inside our compartment was sealed shut with an electronically locked door that could only be opened with a code.

With sweaty palms, I sat rigidly on my bench next to Belle, who laid her head against the wall, eyes closed. On the opposite bench, Rhys stayed alert, watching the several blinking red lights on the center screen of the monitor as the vans separated down different paths. The van floor rocked beneath my boots while I listened to the sound of cars rushing by.

The left and right screens of the monitor acted like a surveillance system showing us different angles outside the van. But they didn’t show us every angle.

“Eveline, what do you see out there?” Rhys held a finger to his earpiece as the communication device picked up his voice.

“All clear so far.”

I could only hear her; she was on the other side of the division in the passenger seat with another agent, Lock, who drove us along the highway.

“All units check in,” came Sibyl’s voice over the comm.

“Unit Seven, all clear,” said Rhys.

“Unit Six, all clear.”

“Unit Five, all clear.”

And it continued like that.

“You don’t think Saul would just ambush us out here, do you?” I asked quietly, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

“Yes. That’s why there are bombs in the bench, Maia.”

It wasn’t a tone I was used to from Rhys. He sounded annoyed. I heard the sting in his voice, but he kept his eyes away from mine as he continued to keep in contact with the other units. Not that I had a right to complain. But my throat still labored as I swallowed hard.

“Maia,” came Belle’s voice from beside me, and when I looked up, my lips almost parted in surprise. Her eyes weren’t fully open as they looked at me, but the encouragement of her small smile, as fleeting as it was, had enough of an impact. “This is all just a precaution—you know that. Don’t worry.”

She wasn’t as confident being warm. Her voice was softer, more fragile. It didn’t come naturally to her. But she gave it a shot sometimes, as if she’d suddenly remembered during those odd moments that I wasn’t just the girl whose destiny used to belong to her mentor. I was the girl struggling under the weight of it.

She was trying, Belle. Every once in a while, she’d set her grief aside andtry. And I always appreciated it. But when her smile disappeared, the knit in her eyebrows returned quickly as if to make up lost ground.

“I’m sorry,” Belle said. “I know I’ve been acting... strange lately.” She said nothing else, but I already understood. As she brushed back some loose strands of hair streaming down her forehead, I stared at my knees.

“It’s okay,” I said as an insidious whisper of guilt taunted me. “And you’re right about the mission. I guess I’m just nervous. I don’t know if I’m really ready to face Saul again.”

“You should be. This isn’t your first mission,” Rhys said flatly, watching the monitor as he twisted the sheathed tip of his favorite knife against his finger. “Haven’t you been training? You should have toughened up by now.”

That childishness was back, the same defiance masked as innocence while he pretended to be interested in his knife, twisting it against his finger. My hands clenched against my knees as we crossed through a Sect-controlled toll. I heard Eveline’s voice from inside my comm.

“Entering the underground tunnel,” she said. I could see that much on the monitor. The two-way highway stretched on in the darkness, speckled by the small lights lining the wall.

“Well, Rhys,” I said finally with a bitter curl of my bottom lip. “Seems you’ve been reading some of my criticism online. Nice to know you found something to do back home for all those weeks.”

“You mean aside from recovering?”

Recovering from his injuries—the injuries he’d gotten trying to protect me from Saul. I couldn’t forget. A knife plunged into his chest close to his heart.

He’d done that forme.

He wasn’t a bad guy. I knew that in my heart. He’d shown me as much while we were together. It was my head that needed convincing—not easy when there were other people living in it.

“Anyway, this is a mission, Maia.” Rhys faced me with nonchalant eyes. “So let’s stop this here, okay? No one’s out to get you. Stop being ridiculous.”

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