Page 55 of Warrior

“Landan,” I said.His eyes flicked to me, and I didn’t miss the disgust written in them.“They gave me the title, dressed me like a hooker, and sent me to Cuba to—” I held up my fingers, air-quoting the next word—“‘negotiate’ with the Shadow Warriors.I’m lucky I survived.Lucky I wasn’t raped or turned into a midnight snack.I came to see you, my friends, because things aren’t as they seem, and I was hoping someone here would be honest with me.”

I paused, giving them a moment to process my words.

It was Landan who finally broke the silence, speaking for the group.“Why should we trust you?”

I straightened my shoulders, letting the meek, scared-girl routine slide away like an old coat.“Because with the little you’ve said so far, I could already have you arrested.”

If looks could kill, I’d be dead on the spot.

“She’s right,” Kara said, surprisingly coming to my defense.“She’s got a guard at the door who doesn’t like her.Do we really have a choice about trust?We’re all dead if she decides to give the order.”

Mila, the youngest of the group, spoke up for the first time.Dressed like the others in regulation military attire, she had short brown hair, a cute face, and stood a foot shorter than me.In the beginning, I’d envied her.Her mother was a scientist, working in one of the labs on things I could only guess at.Mila never spoke about her mother, much like I’d kept my father to myself when he was alive.She hadn’t said a word to me all day, so I was surprised when she was the one to sway the tide completely.

“We need help,” she said quietly, her gaze shifting to the others.“If all we ever do is get drunk and cry into our hooch, we’ll all die eventually.I vote we take a chance.”

Skylar, taller than Mila and less conventionally cute, raised her hand.Her regal nose lent her a sense of understated style, even in her drab camouflage attire.“I’m in,” she said firmly.“We need help.”

Landan let out a strangled sound, halfway between a groan and a sigh, clearly torn.But when Kara gave him a small, resolute nod, he finally caved, his shoulders slumping in defeat.“Our lives are already on borrowed time,” he said.“It’s only a matter of when, not if, the Federation figures out what we’ve been doing.”

He turned his gaze on me, his eyes filled with distrust.“The Federation has been feeding us false data.We started noticing it not long after your father died.We didn’t tell you because, well, you weren’t exactly friendly then.”

He took a slow sip of his hooch.The thick silence carried weight and settled in the air.

“And it’s not just us,” he continued.“Other departments are starting to see the cracks, too.Or maybe it’s more like they’re finally seeing the dark.”

Landan set his cup down on the table and inhaled deeply, casting quick, nervous glances at the others before his eyes settled back on me.His next words hit like a gut punch.

“We started manipulating the data about a year ago.Small adjustments, nothing big.Just enough to send a ripple.”

I sat there, stunned.I had no idea any of this was happening.When my father died, I must have gone deeper into survival mode than I’d realized.The vacuum I’d lived in after his death had been far worse than I remembered.

How else could I explain missing something this important happening right under my nose?

I’d come to work, analyzed the data the Federation handed me, and gone home.No questions.No curiosity.No suspicions.

What the hell had I been thinking, or actually,notthinking?

A heavy wave of shame washed over me.I’d let fear blind me to the truth.

I glanced around the table at the faces of my coworkers.Hope and worry were etched into their features, a fragile thread of trust hanging in the air.

“I came back to help,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady.“I’m trying to figure out what’s really going on and who’s involved.I’m not here to get any of you in trouble.”

“Prove it,” Landan shot back angrily.

The words were laced with enough force to make Ms.Beast grumble.

I needed to trust my gut on this.“A hundred Shadow Warriors came with me to aid the Federation in fighting the hellhounds.They’re housed in a military bunker just outside this facility.What the Federation doesn’t know is that there are another hundred Warriors stationed outside of Washington.”

I kept the full truth to myself.Some secrets needed to stay buried for now.

“Are they taking over?”Landan asked, his voice laced with skepticism.

Kara might have been the ringleader for their drinking escapades, but it was clear Landan was the one in charge when it came to their defiance against the Federation.

“That’s the last thing they want,” I assured him.“For some reason, the Federation is using electromagnetic waves to lure the hellhounds to the U.S.I saw them leave Cuban soil just by walking into the water.They’re headed here, and the only thing standing in their way are the Warriors.”

Shock flashed across his face.“You trust the Shadow Warriors?”he asked.

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