Page 49 of Faron
“Wait—who are you?” I asked.
She paused in the frame, silhouetted in the flickering corridor light.
“Call me Leila.”
She looked over her shoulder, voice low but clear.
“When the lights go out, be ready. You’ll have three minutes. If you’re still here after that… you’re dead.”
Then she was gone.
The guards followed, slamming the door behind them.
Silence.
Kash whistled under his breath. “Well, damn. We just met our ticket out of hell.”
“Or someone who’s about to get us killed,” Cyclone muttered.
I stood slowly. My ribs screamed, but my instincts were louder.
“Either way,” I said, “we better be ready when those lights go out.”
45
Blue
Something wasn’t right.
It had been four days since Faron left for Afghanistan. Four days without a message. No check-in. No update. Nothing.
I’d tried to stay calm. Rational. Told myself it was probably just bad reception or a blackout op. But my gut—mysoldier’s gut—knew better.
Tag had been lingering close, trying to distract me, cooking breakfast with Bear underfoot like some kind of therapy dog. But even he kept glancing at the door like he expected Faron to walk through it at any second.
He didn’t.
I sat at my desk in the back of the clinic, flipping through patient files I couldn’t focus on. My hands trembled as I typed an email to River, deleted it, then typed it again. He hadn’t contacted me either. And that meantthey were keeping something from me.
I shoved the laptop aside and stood. “Tag!” I yelled down the hallway.
He appeared in the doorway within seconds, chewing on a piece of toast. “Yeah?”
“Something’s wrong.”
“I know.”
That surprised me. “What do you mean, youknow?”
“I mean I haven’t heard from River or Cyclone in four days either. And Faron—whoalwayssends one-word texts just to mess with me—hasn’t said a thing.”
“So youknewand didn’t say anything?”
“I didn’t want to panic you.”
I glared at him. “Too late.”
He blew out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I didn’t want to say anything until I knew more. But yeah. It’s off. Real off. Like… maybe even hostage-off.”
