Page 85 of Shadowfox

The melancholy harmonies of some forgotten symphony suddenly filled our room. I turned back to find Will standing in the bathroom doorway, pointing for me to join him. A heartbeat later, both the shower and faucet flowed.

I tried to stand, to make my body move, but I remained frozen in place.

Some part of me had known it could come to this.

Still—

There was a thirteen-year-old girl out there. She was fragile, bright, and afraid—and she didn’t deserve to be left behind as the cost of our operation.

Farkas had made his choice—maybe under duress, maybe not.

But the girl hadn’t.

Finally able to stand, I joined Will in the bathroom and closed the door.

“Well?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“Orders are in.”

“Let me guess,” he murmured. “They want us to clean up the mess?”

“No,” I replied. “They want us to bury it.”

“Shadowfox?”

“Terminate.” I said it plainly, flat, like if I didn’t give it emotion, it wouldn’t be real.

“And the girl?”

I hesitated, then shook my head. “She isn’t part of the plan.”

Will’s eyes widened. “Jesus Christ.” He raked a hand through his hair. “They’re telling us to kill him and what . . .leaveher? Just like that?”

“She was never part of the op, not officially.”

“She’s his daughter.” He wiped his face with both hands.

“We don’t even know where they’re holding her.”

“We’re spies. We can find her.” Will’s voice carried an edge, a tone that said he would not be swayed.

“Will—”

“She’s a child, for fuck’s sake.”

“I know that, but . . . she’s not part of our assignment.”

“Our assignment changed the second we learned about her.” His voice cracked—just slightly. “Now she’s leverage. That makes her part of this. That makes herourresponsibility.”

“Will—”

“Don’t you dare,” he said, stabbing a finger into my chest. “Don’t you dare tell me we’re just following orders.”

I opened my mouth, then shut it.

Because I’d been about to say exactly that.

And because I didn’t believe it, either.

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