Page 176 of Silver Elite

My stomach churns, bile burning my throat. I thought I was helping her with the warning. And now…

I might actually throw up.

“We believe they got out using a tunnel.”

It takes extreme effort not to react.

“We’ve been searching for it for weeks now, with no results. We even conducted several flybys with thermal imaging. Couldn’t find a single heat signature belowground.”

Yeah, because the entire tunnel is reinforced with steel. Thermal imaging can’t see through metal.

I’m surprised, though, that Command Intelligence is unaware of a tunnel that was built by Primes. Granted, it was a hundred years ago. Records get lost. Maps get burned. Mods take advantage of ignorance.

I gulp through my queasiness. “Where is Tana?” I ask Cross.

“She’s being held at the inn.”

“Who’s serving as sentry?”

“Booth.”

Anson? No. No fucking way. I don’t want that creep anywhere near my best friend.

Panic threatens to overwhelm me, but I take a breath and think through my options. I need to make contact with Tana. Right now.

But my attempt to link yields no response. She’s being watched, then.

“Let’s go inside,” Cross says. “Tyler and Hadley should be finishing up with Archer.”

My legs tremble with each step. I hope my attempt at masking my terror is working. I think it is, because nobody gives me a second look or asks if I’m all right. Although once inside the station, I receive a funny look from a young man who’s vaguely familiar to me. It takes a moment to place him. He assists the controller.

“Wren!”

Speaking of the controller.

The big, bearded man lumbers into the lobby and surprises me by giving me a hug. Fletcher and I have never been close. I don’t think we’ve ever shaken wrists, let alone hugged.

“We were worried about you,” Fletcher says.

“ ‘We’?”

“Everyone in the village. You never responded to my comms.”

“I didn’t receive anything from you.”

I resist the urge to glare at Cross. Because if anyone from the outside world had tried to contact me through proper channels, then he’s the reason I never got their messages.

“I’ve been training in the Program,” I tell Fletcher.

“So I’ve been told.” His wary eyes shift toward Cross. Fletcher clearly doesn’t trust him. “Anyway, it’s good to see you.” He squeezes my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

“Can we save this reunion for another time?” Nobody misses Xavier’s sarcasm.

Leaving Fletcher and his people in our wake, Cross leads us to a small briefing room, where Tyler and Hadley fill him in.

“He still won’t give up the location of the tunnel,” Hadley reports.

I maintain a neutral face. I know exactly where the tunnel is. I usedit to leave this very town when I went to rescue Jim. I could probably draw them a map of the entire system.

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