Chapter 43

Monica frowned. His tone was too measured and mechanical. “How did

your talk with her go?”

“She… wasn’t feeling up to the interview and left early.”

That much matched up, but clearly that wasn’t the whole story. “Jared, I

need you to be honest with me.” She looked into his eyes, using the pathway

to bore into his mind.

The confusion Jared was expressing externally matched his inner

thoughts. He was thinking about his most recent actions, and there was a

clear memory of him outside one of the holding cells, but everything between

their morning briefing and that most recent memory was… blurry.

Kira was good—very good—but this was a rush job. Frankly, Monica

expected better.

“We’ve been compromised,” Monica stated.

“What… how?” Jared asked.

“By you, obviously.” She groaned. “Little Kira is bolder than I’d given

her credit for. She must have taken control of you and implanted a memory in

an attempt to cover her tracks.”