Chapter 12 · The Code He Owes Me

"You knew they were using me."

Gabriel's hand tightened around my wrist before I could reach the control panel.

Not hard enough to hurt. Hard enough to remind me that he could.

His blood had soaked through the side of his shirt. It warmed my fingers where his palm covered mine, sticky and steady. He stood between me and the panel, one shoulder braced against the steel wall while alarms flashed over his face.

"I knew Julian offered collateral," he said.

"Don't twist the words."

"I'm not."

"You opened the convoy corridor seven years ago. You let Stone security move through your border. You knew the capital wanted a body to trade for peace." I pulled against his grip. "And now you want me to believe you never asked whose body it would be?"

His jaw locked.

That was answer enough.

I shoved his hand away and stepped into the panel. The Stone mine key slid into the reader with a hard metallic click. The screen woke, lines of red code crawling over the glass.

ACCESS RESTRICTED.

MILITARY AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.

"Give me the code," I said.

Gabriel laughed once. No humor in it.