Chapter 28 · Recoverable

The file's still on the screen.

GHOST SEVEN—NOT KIA. RECOVERABLE ASSET.

Keira's got maybe three seconds before someone in this room decides to be a hero. Taren's staring at her like she just grew a second head. Rian's backing toward the door. The two other instructors who came in after the fight—one's got his hand on his sidearm, the other's already reaching for her comm.

"Don't." Keira's voice comes out flat. She doesn't move. Doesn't need to. They all just watched her put a blade through reinforced plating with one strike.

The instructor's hand freezes halfway to her ear.

"Keira." Taren's using that careful tone. The one you use on someone holding a detonator. "We need to talk about this."

"No. We don't." She shifts her weight. Not a combat stance. Just enough that everyone clocks it. "That file's five years old. Whatever it says, I'm not that anymore."

"Recoverable asset." Rian reads it off the screen. His face is pale. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means someone wanted her back." The instructor by the door—Marak, Keira thinks his name is—he's got his weapon halfway out now. "It means she's not a washout prisoner. She's something else.