Chapter Twenty-Five
KELLEN
My chair squeaks as I lean back and study the two men across from me.
Arayik sits defensively, hands clenched into fists under each arm across his chest. Every line of his body screams violence he’s struggling to contain as emotions flit across his face a mile a minute.
Elias slouches forward, elbows on his thighs, staring at the floor like it holds answers to the questions none of us have asked.
The silence stretches between us as we remain in our curated triangle of chairs. No one wants to be the first to speak, to acknowledge what we all witnessed upstairs. But someone has to break this tension, and by all the stars of course it has to be me.
“So.” My sudden voice jolts the other two. “We have a problem.”
Arayik’s head snaps up, his black eyes blazing. “Problem.” His answering laugh is sinister. “We have a fucking infiltrator. This thing has been playing us for fools.”
“She’s just a woman,” Elias says without looking up.
“No, she’s a threat.” Arayik’s voice drops to a growl. “She’s been gathering intelligence, sabotaging our fucking missions. She freed those rebels, Eli, you said it yourself.”
Elias finally raises his head, meeting Arayik’s glare. “I saw someone who couldn’t stand by and watch innocent people suffer.”
“Innocent?” Arayik surges to his feet, the chair scraping against concrete. My jaw tightens. “They’re criminals. They’ve stolen females from all three facilities, undermined the Syndicate’s authority—”
“Maybe they have good reason to.”
The words are an obvious challenge—this is a disagreement they’ve fought over for years. Arayik stills, his expression shifting from anger to something colder and more dangerous.
“What did you just say?”
I clear my throat, drawing both their attention. “Sit down, Arayik.” In here we’re not Commander and third; there are no titles. We’re simply three men who grew up alongside each other and do our best to complete the work we’re assigned.
He doesn’t move. “Did you hear what he just—”
“I heard him.” My voice remains level, controlled. “And I heard you. Now sit down so we can figure this out like adults instead of children throwing tantrums.”
Arayik’s jaw works, muscles twitching under the flushed skin. For a moment I think he might refuse. Storm out and report us both to the Syndicate. But my sanity sighs, relieved, when he drops back into his chair with enough force to scratch the floor.
“Thank you.” I fold my hands in my lap, considering my words carefully. “Now, let’s start with what we know for certain. The recruit we’ve been calling Lachlan Ashford is not Lachlan Ashford. She’s been impersonating that man in pursuit of joining our team.”
“For what purpose?” Arayik demands.
“That’s what we need to find out.” My eyes flick between them. “But first, we need to decide what we’re going to do with her.”
“Execute her.” Arayik’s response is immediate, though not unexpected considering the lingering emotions from the girl. “She’s a spy, and a traitor to the Syndicate. The penalty is death.”
“We can’t kill her,” Elias intones, voice quiet but firm.
“Why not?” Arayik turns on him. “Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t drag her to the courtyard and put a bullet in her head right now.”
Elias opens his mouth, then closes it. His hands clench and unclench several times. “We just…we can’t.”
“That’s not a reason, that’s sentiment.” Arayik’s voice drips with disgust. “Since when do we let emotions cloud our judgment?”
“Since we discovered that the things we know about women might be a lie,” I answer.
Both men stare at me. The air in the room thickens further.
“What are you talking about?”
I lean forward, choosing my words with care. “She has power, Arayik. Or did you forget she’s an Empath? A strong one, too. Stronger than most men I’ve seen.”
“That’s impossible.”
“And yet it isn’t.” I meet his gaze steadily. “Did we not verify her power the day she arrived? We all felt what she did to you upstairs.” He winces. “That wasn’t some fluke or trick.”
Arayik’s face darkens. “Not one scanner has flagged her.”
“She doesn’t have a chip…” I let that sink in for a moment. “What if she’s never been in the system at all?”
“How is that possible?” Elias asks.
“I don’t know. That’s why we need to talk to her, find out her story.” I look at each of them in turn. “But I do know that killing her before we understand what she represents would be a mistake.”
Arayik shakes his head. “You’re both losing your minds. She’s a woman. Women don’t have power. It’s basic biology.”
“According to who?” The question slips out before I can stop it.
“According to science. According to everything we’ve known since the beginning of humankind.” Arayik’s voice rises with each word. “Are you seriously questioning the fundamental structure of our society?”
I don’t answer right away. The truth is, I’ve been questioning a lot of things lately.
The efficiency of our methods, or the necessity of some of our actions.
And not only me…Elias’ struggle has been far greater.
He is constantly at war with himself, wanting things to change but unable to fathom not following orders.
I was shocked when he informed me of what he saw, and allowed, Ashford to do with those prisoners.
Regardless, it’s clear Arayik will not admit the times she has used power on him. It won’t matter to him that there’s no other explanation.
“I’m questioning whether we have all the facts.”
Arayik stands again, pacing to the far wall. “This is insane. Who fucking cares how she managed to steal a power? The answer to all this remains the same: it’s best for everyone if she’s executed.”
“Arayik, this immediate jump to kill her is foolish thinking.” My arms cross. “I understand you’re upset with her ability to deceive you, but as of right now, there is no suitable reason to do so.”
Arayik stares at the wall, his expression cycling through disbelief, anger, and something sour. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You’re willing to throw away everything—our careers, our lives, our families—for some girl who’s been lying to us from day one?”
“We’re not throwing anything away, Ry,” I remind him. This is reaching a point where he will be impossible to reason with until he calms down. “We’re trying to understand—”
“No.” Arayik cuts me off. “You’re choosing her over us, and everything we’ve built together. The Syndicate will not hesitate to kill us if we do not kill her first.”
The pain in his voice surprises me. Beneath the anger and the inflexible adherence to protocol, there’s genuine hurt. We’ve been a team since childhood, the three of us against everyone. And now he feels like we’re abandoning him.
“That’s not what this is,” Elias says, rising. “Arayik, we’ve been friends for more than twenty years. That doesn’t change because we disagree about some things.”
“Doesn’t it?” Arayik’s laugh is bitter. “You’re talking about betraying everything we swore to our fathers to uphold. How is that not a betrayal of our friendship?”
I stand as well—damn this headache. “Because friendship means being honest with each other even when it’s hard.”
“You want honesty? Fine. I think you’re both losing your fucking minds. I don’t give a shit if you want to use her cunt before she dies, but if we don’t deal with this quickly and decisively, we will end up dead.”
The room falls silent again. I’m disappointed he would suggest raping the girl is why I insist we keep her alive; he knows me better than that. Elias, too.
But he’s not wrong about the danger. If the Syndicate discovers what we know, what we’re even considering, the consequences would be swift and final.
“What do you suggest?” I ask. I know what he’s going to suggest, believing he has the upper hand in the conversation now, yet I want to hear it anyway.
“Send her to a facility if you don’t want me to kill her.” Arayik’s voice is controlled again. “Riverton, since it’s the closest. We will report that we discovered her true identity and are just following protocol, then they can deal with her.”
“And if they find out she has power?” Elias asks.
Arayik shrugs. “Not our problem anymore.”
“It would become our problem very quickly,” I point out. “They’d want to know how we missed it, why we didn’t say anything considering it’s part of our training. They’d investigate our entire operation.”
“Then what?” Arayik’s hands wave through the air. “What’s your brilliant solution, Kel? Keep her here and pretend nothing happened? Hope she doesn’t kill us all in our sleep?”
I consider this. The logical part of my mind agrees with my hotheaded friend—the safest course for us is to eliminate her. But there’s something I can’t quite name that rebels against the logic.
Maybe it’s the way she fought during training, never giving up despite being severely outmatched.
Maybe it’s the intelligence I saw in her eyes, the quick thinking that kept her alive and undetected for weeks.
Or maybe it’s something simpler—that I need to know more about her story before deciding whether her life should be ended or not.
“We talk to her.” Yes, this is the right step. “We find out who she is, why she’s here, what she wants. Then we make an informed decision.”
“And if she refuses to talk?”
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Arayik shakes his head. “This is a mistake. A huge, potentially fatal mistake.”
“Maybe,” I acknowledge. “But it’s the right thing to do.”
Shit, I shouldn’t have said that. He’s still too worked up. “Since when do we decide what the right thing is? We’re Enforcers. We follow orders to maintain order—we don’t question whether they’re right or not, we just do it.”
“Maybe it’s time we started to,” Elias mutters under his breath.
Arayik’s expression cycles through a dozen emotions. Finally, he settles on empty calm—the Commander has taken control.
“Fine,” he says. “Talk to her. Waste your time trying to understand the mind of a traitor. But when this blows up in our faces—and it will—don’t expect me to go down with you.”
He makes for the door, pausing with a hand on the handle. “And don’t expect me to keep quiet about this forever. I have my loyalties and oaths. If I decide you’ve become a threat to the Syndicate….”
He doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t need to.
The door closes behind him with a soft click, leaving Elias and me alone in the suffocating quiet of the underground room.
“Well,” Elias starts after a moment. “That went better than expected.”
I almost smile at that. “Did it?”
“He didn’t try to kill us. I’m counting that as a win.”
I sit once more, suddenly exhausted. The weight of what we’re contemplating settles on my shoulders—just something else too heavy to carry.
“What do you think she’ll tell us?”
Elias considers it for a long moment, staring at his wringing hands. “I think she’ll tell us things we don’t want to hear. Maybe things that will create questions.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“No,” he says honestly. “But I think it’s necessary.”
I nod once. He’s right, of course. Whatever comfort we might find in ignorance, it’s a luxury I’ve never cared for.
“Well, we should talk to her soon. Before Arayik changes his mind and decides to take matters into his own hands.”
“You think he would?”
Elias meets my gaze. “Don’t you?”
I consider this. Arayik has always been the most stubborn of the three of us, and the most devoted to protocol and hierarchy.
His father’s influence and sister’s death run deep, shaping him into the perfect soldier.
But beneath that conditioning, he’s still the boy I grew up with.
The one who shared his lunch when I forgot mine; the same guy who stood against bullies even when he was outnumbered.
He’s scared, I know this. But that’s no excuse to not face whatever this woman has to say.