“No, sir.”

“Very well.” I imagined the speaker pulling back, waving his hand.

“Dismissed.”

The screen flickered and went dark. Liam and Sarah immediately turned and walked toward the secret door, not glancing in my direction. I peeked from the cage, watched them press a single button to release the door panel, and waited several minutes after the door closed again before I fled myself. Back up the stairs and into my room, thankfully undisturbed by nosy brothers and now untrust-worthy guardians. No one had been in to check on me, and I collapsed to the bed, my mind racing with what I’d heard. Talon, my guardian, my trainers, Dante.

And the rogue.

Okay, Cobalt, I thought, feeling a shiver run down my back. You were right. Talon isn’t tel ing us everything. You have my full attention, now. I just hope I’ll get to see you again to ask about it.

Garret

“So, you have a possible target now.”

On the computer screen, Lieutenant Gabriel Martin leaned back in his desk, steepling his fingers in thought. Both Tristan and I stood in the apartment’s tiny kitchen, facing the open laptop on the counter. These weekly status reports were routine, keeping headquarters updated on the mission, but tonight was different. Tonight, we actually had a name.

“Ember Hill,” Martin mused, drawing his brows together. “I’ll have intelligence run another background check on her and her household, see if we can find any discrepancies. You say she has a brother?”

“Yes, sir,” Tristan answered. “But they could have been raised together and then planted here to throw us off, knowing we’d be looking for a single target.”

“That is a possibility,” Martin agreed. “I wouldn’t put it past Talon to think of new ways to hide their spawn. Have you spoken to either of her guardians, or been inside their house?”

“No, sir,” Tristan said. “But Garret has established a connection with the girl. He’s set to meet with her tomorrow.”

“Good.” Martin nodded and glanced at me. “What about you, soldier?” he asked. “What are your thoughts on this girl?”

I kept my voice and expression blank. “I haven’t discerned anything yet, sir. So far she hasn’t given us any proof, only happenstance.

Based on that, I couldn’t give you a sure answer.”

“Forget proof, then.” Martin narrowed his eyes. “Sometimes you have to go with your instincts, regardless of everything else. What does your gut tell you?”

“That…” I paused, remembering Ember’s smile, the way her eyes flashed when she was angry or excited. That eager, defiant grin that said she wouldn’t back down from anything. The unfamiliar twisting sensation in the pit of my stomach when our eyes met. On the surface, she acted no different than anyone else; there were no obvious clues that hinted she was anything but an ordinary girl.

But my instincts, the gut reactions that had kept me alive on the field of battle all this time, said otherwise. Ember was different. Maybe it was her passion, a fiery determination that I’d seen all too often in the creatures I fought. That stubborn refusal to die that made them such lethal enemies. Or that sometimes, when she looked at me, I caught something in that stark gaze that wasn’t entirely…human. I couldn’t explain it, and I knew St. George would never accept those as valid reasons to eliminate a suspect. But, Martin wasn’t asking for proof now. He understood that soldiers sometimes had to make choices based purely on intuition. And my instincts had rarely been wrong.

“She could very well be the sleeper, sir,” I replied.

Though, for the first time, I hoped I was mistaken.

Martin nodded solemnly. “We’ll have to see what comes of this information,” he murmured. “Sebastian, your goal now is to get as close to this girl as you can. See if you can get inside her house.

Talon bases will occasionally have underground lairs where they receive Intel from the organization. If you find that room, you have the Order’s full permission to take out the entire household. Just be discreet about it.”

“Should we stake out the house, sir?” Tristan asked, but Martin shook his head.

“No. Talon operatives are trained to notice anything amiss, such as a strange car sitting in the road. We don’t want to give them any clues that we could be in the area. Set up electronic surveillance to monitor the exterior, but your primary mission remains. Gain entrance into the domicile—any concrete intelligence will be found inside.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good work, both of you,” Martin finished, the faintest hint of a smile crossing his face. “We’ll follow up on the leads you’ve provided.

But for now, take the night off. You’ve earned it.”

The image disappeared as the video feed disconnected. Tristan blew out a breath and closed the laptop. “Well, that’s done,” he muttered, stretching his long limbs. “I’m glad we could finally give them a name. They were probably getting a little nervous with the lack of progress. Now we can focus our efforts on this girl, and maybe her brother, until we have an answer.”

I didn’t respond. I should have been relieved; the mission was back on track, and we had a real course of action. I didn’t like the unknown; I wanted a visible plan, orders I could follow, an objective I could reach. I had my orders now. Engage the target. Discern the target to be the sleeper and, if she was, kill the sleeper. Simple, familiar commands. My mind should’ve been on the mission and how to accomplish it.

But now, all I could think of was Ember. Seeing her again, getting close, learning her secrets. And, just a few hours from our designated meeting time, I found myself strangely torn. I wanted to see her, was looking forward to it, in all honesty…but at the same time, I was reluctant. I didn’t want to lie to her.

I didn’t want Ember to be the sleeper.

Shaken, I grabbed the binoculars from the counter and headed toward the door. I couldn’t think like that. Personal feelings had nothing to do with the objective. I had my orders, and I’d never failed a mission yet. I would not waver now.

“Uh, Garret?” Tristan’s voice halted me at the door. I turned to find him watching me with his arms crossed, a bemused look on his face. “What are you doing?”

I held up the binoculars. “What we’ve been doing every night since the time we got here. Why?”

He rolled his eyes. “Didn’t you hear the lieutenant? We have the night off. Seriously, put down the damn specs before I hit you with them. Garret, we are in California. Beaches, volleyball, bikinis, nightclubs. It can’t be missions and training every second of every day.” He snorted and gave me a look that was sympathetic and exasperated at the same time. “Even the Perfect Soldier needs to take a break once in a while. Hell, you have permission to relax from Headquarters itself. Forget the mission for one night.”