Page 35 of Enthraller

“You should go rest, yourself,” Wren said, walking beside Ed as they made their way past the control room and up the corridor that led to the maintenance room.

“I’d feel better if someone was there to watch your back,” he said.

“I more or less have that already,” she told him, voice soft.

“So I noticed.”

She shot him a look, as if to gauge what he meant by that.

“It’s a good thing, Wren. Better than not having it.” He knew he wasn’t the one with the nano tech inside him, but it had saved her numerous times, so it seemed beneficial to him. “Better than the alternative.”

She gave a nod. “I’d have been dead a couple of times over without it, so yes. But that silver spike . . .” She lifted her shoulders. “That’s never happened before.”

“Because of it we have the creeper, and you have a way of shutting them down,” he said. “I’m assuming that knowledge is newly acquired?”

She nodded. “It feels out the tech, learns it, and adapts.”

They had been talking quietly as they walked, but when they saw one of the academic team turn into the canteen up ahead, they stopped speaking altogether, moving past the room and further down the hall.

There was another comms lounge, and then a large room with benches and various pieces of equipment set up.

Ed scanned it before he stepped inside, but there was no one here, even though the maintenance crew would surely have someone on duty around the clock.

“Maybe they’re off somewhere, complaining about losing all their spy tech,” Wren said.

She probably wasn’t wrong.

He watched as she walked over to a long work bench, touching the items on it with delicate fingers as she moved down the length of it. She was doing the same to the next bench along when Ed sensed someone behind him.

He turned to find Banks looking at Wren with a strange expression.

“She’s a looker, your new colleague.”

“So she is.”

“You together?” Banks flicked a look up at him.

“That’s why we’ve got the shared accommodation,” Ed said. He didn’t feel even the slightest twinge at the deception.

“Separate rooms, though.” Banks’s attention went back to Wren.

“Teams policy,” Ed said with a shrug. “Every person gets their own room. Whether they sleep in it or not.”

“Huh.” Banks lifted a shoulder. “That figures.” He stepped into the room. “What’s she doing?”

“Looking for some things she needs to make a jammer.” Ed leaned back against the wall, crossed his arms over his chest.

“A jammer? What for?” There was an intensity to the question that told Ed a lot.

“We found listening devices in all our rooms, and a creeper. Bailey’s taken them back to headquarters to see if the techs can trace where they originated.” He kept his gaze focused on Banks when he spoke.

“Headquarters?” Banks seemed to relax a little.

So he had someone in headquarters running interference, maybe. Ed would shut that down with a call to Hyt.

“Yes, Captain Hyt and Head of Defense, Velda Shanïha, are very anxious to get to the bottom of a series of events that they think endanger the safety of Aponi. So I expect they’ll make sure the tech trace will be done with full oversight.”

Banks swallowed. “That’s good.”

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