He stood at the door longer than he’d ever admit. Asking for help was a mistake, but not asking might be worse.

  They’d finally dealt with the Ribeiro problem. Everyone else was relaxing, or at least, running down information at the local pub, which was almost as good.

  Marcus was pacing, thinking, tearing his hair out over how to pull this off. He had a plan. It could work, but it was risky.

  And it wasn’t a one-man job.

  His usual philosophy was tell no one, but he couldn’t see any other way to steal that drive. It wasn’t happening. Not without a second man. Or, woman was probably the better term.

  He needed help, and Kathrine was his only option. He didn’t think Kathrine would go to Sasha, but he couldn’t be sure.

  Kathrine was…well, he liked her. If anyone absolutely refused to be Sasha’s lackey, it was her. It was always a relief when she was assigned to work with him, yet Marcus couldn’t entirely trust her. He didn’t completely trust anyone, but Kathrine was even harder to read.

  In terms of getting the job done and following orders, Kathrine was as dependable and blunt as they came. Yet when it came to everything else, she was enigmatic, her true loyalties and values murky, making her unpredictable in a way entirely different from Sasha’s impulsiveness.

  He had no other choices. Sasha was out. Dirk? Not reliable. The only person left was Kathrine. She wasn’t exactly loyal to him, but she wasn’t loyal to Siera either.

  And for some reason, Isi thought he could trust her too. That was enough. He hoped.

  If he was wrong, then the next few minutes would be almost as risky as the plan itself. If it was anything else, Marcus would have told Isi no. It was too dangerous to trust Kathrine like this, but… Enigma-level secrets?

  That meant disappearances. Events that couldn’t quite be explained. Things Novem considered dangerous enough to cover up in hopes that no one else would be hurt.

  If that drive had evidence of the Enigma Protocol, it might even have the missing files on his father’s expedition. On what really happened.

  He grit his teeth. If Trevor had been sitting on this for years… Marcus let out a long breath. Trevor thought it was too dangerous to tell Isi. Why would he have told him?

  Protecting with secrets.

  Trevor was gone. Missing. Maybe because of the exact secrets Marcus was chasing.

  Still… Marcus would rather have truth. He was tired of dead ends with no answers, of someone else deciding what was too dangerous for him to see. That’s why he’d left in the first place.

  So this risk? It was worth it.

  Taking a deep breath, Marcus pushed out into the hallway and strode into the cabin’s common room. The fire had started to burn low. Unsurprisingly, Kathrine was still at the table, now playing solitaire. If she wasn’t outside doing one of her grueling workouts, she was usually playing cards. Marcus grabbed a log and carefully placed it in the fireplace.

  Kathrine watched him with a wary eye. “Why do I get the feeling that you suddenly want something from me?”

  Marcus snorted and turned back to her. “Probably because I do,” he said as he walked over to the table.

  “If you want to void that last game, no dice,” Kathrine replied, barely looking up from her cards. “You were the one to jump ship. You can pay for it with your hard-earned reons.”

  “It’s not about the money,” Marcus said, pulling out a chair. He sat and watched as Kathrine shifted another stack of cards. Here was the dive. There was no going back after this. Marcus took a deep breath and asked, “How willing are you to keep secrets from Sasha?”

  Kathrine froze. One card tumbled from her hand onto the tabletop. She glanced at the door as though she were waiting for Sasha to burst in. Marcus picked up the fallen card, an ace of spades, and held it out to her. “I commed Sasha. She won’t be back for a while. She got a call from Siera and is running down some information with Dirk.”

  Kathrine’s eye twitched, drawing his attention to the scar that began just above her eye and slashed down her cheek. She’d never told him the full story of how she got it. Glancing at the door again, she relaxed a little and took the card from his hand. “Is this some sort of test?”

  Marcus shook his head. “No. This is real.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Kathrine pursed her lips. “Who am I lying for?”

  “That would be me,” Marcus said with a chuckle.

  “Why?”

  “That’s a good question,” Marcus said, tapping his fingers against the table. “And it deserves a good answer, but the answer is long and complicated. Let’s just say Siera wants something she shouldn’t have, and Sasha’s just been tasked with retrieving it.”

  “And who are you to judge what Siera should have?” Kathrine asked.

  “Well, it’s not exactly hers, and Isi doesn’t want Siera to have it. It’s a sort of family heirloom from her father’s side.”

  Kathrine looked thoughtful. “A Rafinin family heirloom, huh? That could certainly be dangerous.”

  “Incredibly,” Marcus replied.

  “What is this heirloom?”

  “It’s a memory drive.”

  Kathrine studied her cards again, lost in thought. After shifting a stack around, she looked up at him. “And Isi thinks it’s that dangerous?”

  “Isi said it’s dangerous. I don’t know all the details.” Marcus hesitated. He couldn’t give her the full truth, but maybe a partial one. “But I think… it might have something to do with her parents. Why they died.”

  That was why Siera wanted it.

  “Because Isi thinks that plane crash was sabotage,” Kathrine said with a sigh.

  Marcus’ brow furrowed. The da Silva’s tended to keep that close to the chest. Where had Kathrine heard about it?

  He banished the thought. Now wasn’t the time. Marcus shrugged. “Or something along those lines.”

  Kathrine raised an eyebrow. “Her parents died because of this drive, and you want the thing?”

  “No,” Marcus said, shifting in his chair. “Not really, but I don’t want anyone else to have it either.”

  Kathrine studied him, the card game in front of her almost forgotten. “You’re playing a very dangerous game, Marcus. I’m not sure I want to be a part of it.”

  “That’s understandable. Most of the time, I don’t want to be a part of it either. The thing is, we’re already players. Some of us just have more active roles.”

  Marcus let her think for a moment before continuing, “This is important. I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t.”

  Kathrine snorted. “Obviously. Just telling me this is stupidly dangerous. If Sasha knew what you were up to, she might very well kill you.”

  “Yes.”

  “And this mess is what you want me to get involved in?” Kathrine asked, eyebrows raised.

  “Yes,” Marcus said.

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Maybe, but do you trust me or Siera more?” Marcus asked.

  Kathrine frowned slightly and gave a small shrug. “Maybe I don’t trust either of you.”

  Marcus’ heart skipped a beat as panic began to settle in. Things had been going well, but if Kathrine decided against him… he watched her shift another stack of cards. She glanced up, and he saw something in her eyes that made him almost shiver in relief: trust.

  “Come on, Kathrine. You trust me. I know you do.”

  She gave him an annoyed look, but after a moment it melted away and she sighed. “I probably shouldn’t.”

  Marcus offered a slight smile. “But?”

  “But yes, I do trust you.”

  “Good,” Marcus said. With Kathrine on his side, this would be much, much easier.

  Kathrine returned to her game, collecting a stack of cards and shuffling them as she asked, “So, what’s the plan? The big lie you’re going to tell Sasha?”

  “I’m going to propose that you all go to Jarangua to cut off whoever Novem sends. I’m guessing whoever it is will have to pick up a key there since nothing else is even remotely close. I’ll be at Trevor’s outpost in case they slip through the cracks. If I’m there alone, then it’s just my screw-up, less chance Sasha or Siera will start digging.”

  “Simple enough. And if we do catch this person in Jarangua?”

  “Then, hopefully, I can get past Novem’s security. It’s risky, but I haven’t been able to come up with a better way to bypass Sasha.”

  “And what do you want me to do?” Kathrine asked.

  Marcus shrugged, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair. “Not much. I need you to keep Sasha in Jarangua as long as possible. Convince her not to even go to the outpost if you can. On top of that, I need you to back me up when I suggest being stationed there alone. The smart thing would be to have everyone wait at the outpost; whoever Novem sends has to make their way there eventually. I need to be there alone for this to work.”

  “Since when does Sasha ever pick the smart thing to do?” Kathrine said, picking up one of her cards and twirling it between two fingers. “She’d just be waiting at the outpost. Another boring stakeout. We hit that town, and she’ll get to participate in all sorts of her favorite activities, all with Siera’s money: bribery, gathering information at the pub, threatening locals. I really don’t think it’ll be hard to convince her. The hardest part will be convincing her that you lost this drive if you manage to steal it.”

  Marcus shrugged. “That’s my problem.”

  “Good,” Kathrine said, giving him an almost smug nod. “Because I don’t want any part of it.”

  “But you will help?”

  Kathrine studied the card she’d been twirling. Her examination was more thorough than the card probably warranted. She probably had every detail of those cards memorized, but Marcus didn’t push her for a quick answer.

  Finally, she flipped the card across her fingers and looked back up. “I’ll back you up and do what I can to keep Sasha in Jarangua for as long as possible, but there’s only so much I can do. I’m not putting my life on the line for it.”

  Marcus nodded. That was as much as he could really hope for. He pulled some folded bills out of his pocket, counted out what he needed, and passed them across the table to Kathrine. She raised an eyebrow.

  Marcus just shrugged and explained, “Like you said, this is dangerous. I don’t want to charge into danger without making sure all my debts are paid.”

  Kathrine smirked and accepted the wad of bills. “Another game?” she asked, gesturing to the cards.

  Marcus shook his head. “I’ve still got some details to work out before Sasha gets back, but I wish you the best of luck with your solitaire.”

  Kathrine inclined her head in acceptance. The money disappeared into one of her many pockets, and her focus returned to her game, as if Marcus had never interrupted.

  Marcus stood, pushed the chair in, and headed back to his room. He paused at the door. “Oh, and Kathrine?”

  She glanced up from her cards. “Yes?”

  “If the person Novem sends happens to look a lot like me…try not to hurt him.”

  Kathrine raised an eyebrow, then just nodded and returned to her game. From her, that was basically as good as a contract.

  Marcus wished that made him feel a bit better about what was about to go down because he didn’t know if he’d just secured the win or handed Kathrine the knife that could end him.