Page 186 of Fractured Loyalties
A familiar voice comes through, breathless, calm, male.
“Did you enjoy my welcome party?”
"Vale," I say.
Kinley turns at the sound of his name, already moving.
I put the phone on speaker as I reply evenly, “Your men were sloppy. One cried when his femur snapped. You used to run tighter ops.”
Vale breathes a sharp laugh. “They weren’t mine.”
“Bullshit.”
“I sent a tracker. Not a kill team. But someone intercepted it. Spun the whole thing sideways.”
Mara shifts. I glance at her, then back to the phone.
I say, “You knew Jori was alive.”
Silence.
Then Vale answers, quieter. “Not until two days ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“What would you have me do? Tell you while Volker was listening? I don’t get the luxury of silence like you do.”
“You still sent shadows into my perimeter. You still let him use you.”
“I didn’t let him. I didn’t have a fucking choice.”
The silence builds between us like a drawstring being pulled tight around something fragile.
Vale continues, voice steadier now. “He’s using Jori to bait me. He wanted to see if I’d run back to him. I didn’t. I sent a signal to you. I thought it’d reach you before he…twisted it.”
Kinley whispers, “It makes sense. The signal we intercepted was too clean. Someone re-broadcast it.”
I murmur into the phone, “And what’s your plan now, Vale? Hope I forgive the mistake? Or trade my head for your brother’s?”
“I want him back,” Vale says. “Alive. If you can get him out, I’ll give you what Volker’s holding back. Everything.”
“And what makes you think I won’t take it after I put a bullet through your eye?”
“Because you need me,” Vale says, steel threading into his voice. “You don’t know everything. Not yet. And he’s only just started calling you Eidolon again. That means he hasn’t unleashed the part he’s still hiding.”
I clench my jaw. The name tastes like ash.
“What’s he hiding?” I ask.
Vale hesitates. Then:
“The reason why he needs her.”
Mara.
The line goes dead.
Lydia lowers her gun slowly. “Well. That was friendly.”
