Page 544 of Lodestar

She pulled a face in agreement. “I was at the battle, so was Eoghan. But not in the middle of it all. Most of the fighting was around the outpost, but there were skirmishes along the border.

“We probably wouldn’t have survived if we had been in the thick of it. Maverick was one of the lucky ones.”

“Yeah,” Maverick choked out. “I feel fucking lucky.”

“Hey,” she argued. “You made it out to see another day. That’s more than Nic did.”

Maverick fell silent, whether that was because he was chastened or because he was speechless—I had no way of knowing.

Star pierced the silence with, “Eagle Eyes is a sniper, Maverick.”

“Yeah, he’s with the Hell’s Rebels’ MC down in Texas.”

“Why would he know anything about what happened in Kembesh? Why would Nic put you on his radar?”

“He was in Kembesh too,” Maverick clipped.

“Who was?” I asked.

Star shot me a look. “Eagle Eyes.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange how so many of you were in this battle?” I questioned, unease settling in my gut like a lead weight.

“It’s a small world over there,” she said, shrugging.

“Who’s Dost Mohamet Khan, Star? How do you know him?” Maverick demanded.

“He was the man who enslaved me. My first owner.”

Sucking in a breath, I pressed my hand to her nape and gently squeezed once, twice, wanting to reassure her that I was here for her.

“You told me that you were assigned to a museum to protect their antiquities,” Maverick rumbled slowly. “And you were taken because you were hunting down a double agent? That wasn’t a lie?”

“No. But I lied to you about the country. It wasn’t Iraq, but Afghanistan.”

“For fuck’s sake, Star. Why lie?”

“Because we always keep something back, don’t we?” she mumbled guiltily, her gaze clashing with mine. She looked so miserable that I had to squeeze her nape again. Just to reassure her that I knew she was trying.

Sometimes, in this fucking life, especially inherlife, that was all youcoulddo.

“What’s going on, Star? What the hell is happening?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I can tell you Khan’s dead if that helps?”

Maverick was quiet for a moment. “You killed him?”

“The first time I picked up a gun after I got free, he was in my crosshairs. Luckily for me, he traveled to the UK and made it easy for me to take him out.”

My jaw worked. “What the hell was he doing traveling to the UK?”

“He was a Sparrow,” she drawled. “That meant he got away with trafficking. Probably genocide too. Until me.”

Pain loaded down Maverick’s every word as he confessed, “I’ve tried to get in touch with Eagle Eyes but he isn’t answering.”

“No, he’s on a job for me.”

“What kind of job?”

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