Page 119 of Silent Target

Acceptance.

He removes his backup pistol and places it in my hand.

“Six rounds.”

“I have my own.”

“Take it.”

I secure it at my waist.

“Stay off the main corridors,” Mac says. “The control room is one level down.”

Caleb grips the edge of my vest.

“If anything feels wrong, you come back.”

“I will.”

“That wasn’t a request.”

“I know.”

For a moment, neither of us moves.

Then he leans forward until his forehead touches mine.

Not a kiss.

Something quieter.

More intimate.

“After this,” he whispers.

I close my eyes.

“After this.”

Cobra removes the vent cover.

I climb into the darkness.

Behind me, the steel door begins to buckle beneath the Inner Guard’s attack.

Ahead, the Chairman’s voice comes through my earpiece.

“Your father made the same mistake, Evelyn.”

I stop crawling.

“He believed he could enter my house and expose me.”

The duct suddenly slopes downward.

The metal beneath my hands gives way.

I fall through darkness.