ght: When
ast tower overlooking Abuja, the city glittering
rpiece
o's voice said, quiet
an elite government-funded safe zone-off the books, scrubbed f
assey st
red. Un
olog
She's walking like the
he thinks
, training it on Ayanda's head
e word," sh
o in together. Clean.
the rifle, he
ioner. The woman who built her, sent her into Leo's life like a knife
ant her aliv
silent f
if she
urposed during the civil unrest years as a covert escape route. Zara moved f
, glass elevators, voiceprint recognition-but Ay
her first
evel two. Securit
ot twelve minutes be
t, hijacking t
g good at this
e said. "You just didn'
at her, no
do
r hisse
Ayanda w
or, scrolling through her tablet as if this we
, gun first, Ayan
o, ch
finger
our child,
o. You're something f
ped in b
o this is the king you b
osed the door behind them
adable. She looked elegant as ever-gray tailored suit, silver bangles, a smooth bob
an this," she said, sipping. "You've
entor's chest. "No. You taught me to kill f
s. And clinging to a man with blood o
said. "You s
. "Of a weakn
any bullet. He didn't speak-not yet-but the f
t Project Mam
n't react.
al memos. You created operatives, burned them, then buried them
mpire? A child-soldier network in Port Harcourt? Don't pretend yo
breath
g. "We leaked your files. The world know
hat about her? What do you think happens
then, calm
match they should
carefully. "You came here for
e," Za
yanda replied, reach
snapped u
," Leo
s hovering just over
oftly. "You think I survived this long wit
her eyes. "W
ead man's key. Protocol 17. The real reason
hesit
grazed her
ed to
the file tow
it," s
gers flicking the latch-an
igerian.
e
eneat
sign
ization form she had
is t
ce dropped t
us wasn't in Congo, Zara. It
red at t
ed at he
member this
d it. You had a break. Trauma. We
knees w
aught
ou can destroy me, girl? I made you. You've always bee
oked up
sm
u just reminded me
hout he
led the
choed like
a clean hole through her sh
, calm now-eyes sha
she said. "Next ti
a looked up, lips curled in something lik
you've won,
r. "I think you're n
ta drop scheduled in ten minutes. Final records of P
em cares about the truth? They'll deny it. Reframe it. Y
razor. "Then we die louder
sed. Her body slu
to Zara. "W
ood and smoke. The fire alarm went off ten minu
s unconscious, bleeding, and half the digital wor
NAUTHORIZED ASSE
assets for domestic and foreign missions before sy
eaths linked to dis
Bassey implicat
blowers rema
border into Ben
ndow, her body aching, her chest
ead," he sai
e gets to live in the w
"That was the first tim
"Because I wasn't ac
ve on in
town with no signal and no questions, Zara stoo
still damp from blood. He di
said, "I don't kno
with his. "You're some
d at him.
who killed the part of himsel
n't kiss
ge of war, memory, and survi
e both m
learned h
leed... can bu