Page 160 of Black Reign

I wait.

Then:

VESPER: Enjoy the wedding, Xavier.

My name again.

It shouldn’t feel intimate.

It does.

GHOST: Enjoy running, Vesper.

Three dots.

VESPER: Who said I’m running?

Then she disappears.

NULL goes dark.

I stand there with the ocean below me and her final sentence burning through my head.

Who said I’m running?

Drew joins me a minute later.

He hands me fresh Scotch.

I take it without argument.

“That bad?”

I drink.

“No.”

“That good?”

I look at him.

“She knows who I am.”

Drew whistles.

“Yeah. Saw that one coming.”

“You absolutely did not.”

“No. But it sounds wise now that I say it.”

I look back toward the reception.

“She was close enough to drink from my glass.”

“Hot.”

“Wear my jacket.”