Chapter 11

“I’m not so sure.” Monica’s eyes narrowed and she tilted her head, never

taking her gaze off of him. “See, if we’re moving into Stage Three, I can’t

have even the slightest hesitation. Everything we’ve done up to this point will

have been child’s play by comparison. My team’s loyalties must be

unquestioned.”

Tim sat up straighter in his chair. “Right, of course. You have no reason

to doubt me.”

“I really wish that were the case.” Monica started the video.

Aside from an advancing time-stamp, the video didn’t change for several

seconds. Then, a woman appeared at the front of the cell—the same woman

Monica had confronted several minutes prior. That brief conversation had

confirmed what she already knew from the video. Her spirit was alive and

well because she had hope for freedom. It could only mean one thing.

Five seconds later, Tim appeared in the frame, rushing toward the cell. “It

won’t be much longer,” he said in the footage.

“I can’t take it anymore,” the woman pleaded. “Please, just unlock it. I’ll

find my own way out.”

“You’d never make it. Next week—it’s all arranged.”

She wiped a tear from her face with the heel of her hand. “I guess I’m in

no position to argue.”

“It’ll be okay, Melissa. Trust me.”

“I do.”

Tim placed his palm against the plexiglass covering the cell entrance, and

she held up her own hand to mirror his.

He lingered for two seconds before hurrying away outside the camera’s

view.

Monica stopped the video, shaking her head with disgust at how easily

Tim had lost focus of their mission and fallen to the whims of his heart. It

was pitiful.

She glowered over Tim. “I think that’s exactly what it looks like.”

Her associate rolled backward in his chair. “I can explain—”

“Whatever you were going to say, it’s not good enough. I’m sorry, Tim,

but with Stage Three coming, you’re just too big of a liability. It’s a shame.”

Monica raised her hand. “No, I—”

Tim’s cry cut off in a garbled choke as Monica gripped him in a

telekinetic vise, constricting his throat. “For what it’s worth, I’ll miss you,”

she told him, his arms flailing as she telekinetically pulled him out of his

chair and slowly crushed the life out of him. His eyes lost their fear as they

rolled back in his head, his body going limp.

She dropped his body back into the chair. “What a waste,” she

murmured. Alas, it was so difficult to find good assistants. KIRA STARED OUT the shuttle viewport at the Valtan landscape before her.

Pristine mountains rose above a fertile valley, which contained a

sprawling forest and a river that wove its way toward the ocean to the east.

The unique environmental properties had prompted officials to declare

ninety-nine percent of the planet protected land, and her hometown of

Tribeca was the largest of only three settlements on the planet.

Due to the covert nature of her mission, she was being dropped off in a

civilian shuttle from the orbiting spaceport. Also on board were a group of

tourists from Elusia—the obnoxious kind that found obvious features to be

the most fascinating thing ever.

The couple across the aisle from Kira was particularly insufferable,

making a point of explaining to one another how the hills were different

shades of green the farther away they were in the distance. Kira found herself

counting prime numbers to keep herself distracted from the inane comments

while they landed.

She had just reached three thousand one hundred eighty-seven when the

shuttle finally came to rest on the ground.

Across the aisle, the woman pointed out the viewport at a grove of trees

along the edge of the landing pad. “Are those, like, parasites?”

“What do you mean?” her husband replied.

She scrunched up her nose. “That white poofy stuff on them. Is it some

kind of growth?”

Kira barely resisted smacking her forehead. “Uh, I think that’s just a

flowering tree.”

“Oh, really?” The woman tilted her head. “Huh.”

I’m going to strangle her if I don’t get off this shuttle right now! Kira

unbuckled her harness and quickly grabbed her travel bag before the tourists

could make it into the aisle.

The side hatch dropped open, and Kira stepped out.