Page 7 of Shadow

Dani approached again. “Asher, I need your statement.”

“Give me a minute.”

“We need to process the scene⁠—”

“I said give me a minute.”

Too sharp. She stepped back, but her eyes tracked him with the same wariness Michael’s did.

Yeah, they probably thought he was the mole. Which was terribly, ironically, brutally funny, really.

Since, well, normally, he was.

Asher looked down at his hands.

Blood under his fingernails.

Staining his shirt cuffs.

Soaked into the knees of his pants.

I’m sorry.

Martha’s last words.

Yeah, well, him too. Because he’d spent eighteen months selling pieces of his soul. Eighteen months telling himself the end justified the means.

And what did he have to show for it?

Blood on his hands. A dead witness. And a meeting tonight with Draven Frost, who just might put a gun to his head and…

Well, he’d always known it would end that way, probably.

So, just another Tuesday.

He got up, looked at Dani, and said, “Okay, ready.” And prepared himself to betray his country. Again.

Three weeks. No—twenty-one days and eight hours of hypervigilance, protein bars that tasted like cardboard, and exactly four hours of sleep per night.

Daphne Cross was so over this gig.

But Angela Carter was alive and walking into federal custody with borrowed clothes and wielding the sword of justice.

That was the job, wasn’t it? Keep them breathing. Keep them moving. Keep them alive long enough to testify.

“I don’t know how to thank you.” Angela stood outside the Seattle Federal Courthouse, the November midmorning sun breaking through the fog that clung to Puget Sound. The woman clutched Daphne’s borrowed overnight bag, eyes already shining with tears.

Daphne kept her face neutral. “You saved your own life by agreeing to testify. I just made sure you survived to do it.”

Angela’s eyes filled. “I’ll miss you.”

Daphne offered a smile. “No, you won’t. You’ll be glad to be rid of me. Because it means you’ll be free.” She held out her hand.

Angela ignored it and pulled her into a hug.

Okay, whatever.

Daphne patted her back. “Go be brave.”