Page 148 of Fractured Loyalties
The room beyond is long. Low-ceilinged. Lined with racks of old servers blinking to themselves like they’ve forgotten what silence is.
There’s a body in the chair.
Not dead.
Sleeping.
I pause. Step in fully. Let the door whisper shut behind me.
The figure stirs. Straightens. Then turns.
I freeze.
Not because I recognize him.
But because I don’t.
He’s young. Mid-twenties, maybe. Sharp features. Hair cropped close. Not military. Not civilian. That in-between look of someone who’s spent too long behind screens and not enough time in the world.
He looks at me like he expected someone else.
And then he smiles.
“Mara, right?”
I step closer. Slowly. “Who the hell are you?”
He shrugs. “Let’s say I’m Kinley, I’m someone who’s been watching longer than you’d like.”
My pulse trips. My fingers brush the edge of the jammer.
He sees it. Lifts a hand, mock-surrender. “Hey. No threat. If I wanted to hurt you, I’d have let the door lock behind you.”
“That supposed to be comforting?”
He laughs. “No. But it’s true.”
I don’t smile.
“I’m not with Vale,” he adds.
“Then who are you with?”
A beat. Then: “Nobody. Not anymore.”
I scan the room. Data feeds everywhere. Half-archived logs. Shadows of files I don’t recognize. Images of me. Elias. Even Lydia.
“You’ve been collecting,” I say.
“Observing,” he corrects.
I don’t move. “Is that better?”
He shrugs again. “Not worse.”
My hand tightens on the jammer.
“You’re not going to kill me, Mara.”
