Page 88 of Shadow Burn

Vivi’s expression turned gentle, but not pitying. “You’re worried about Katherine.”

“She doesn’t eat enough when she’s working.”

“Sounds like someone else I know.”

He ignored the jab. “She sleeps worse. She gets inside her own head and forgets she has a body until it starts failing.” He looked toward the windows, jaw tight. “She says she’s fine.”

Vivi arranged tomato on her sandwich. “The word people use when they are absolutely not fine but still capable of filing paperwork.”

“That’s Katherine.”

“It’s also you.”

He didn’t answer.

Vivi let him have the silence for a moment, then nudged the plate of tomato slices toward him. “You should go see her.”

“I’m going to.”

She lifted a brow.

“I have three weeks of vacation saved,” he said. “Once I finish the final layer on the security upgrade, I’m taking it.”

“The security upgrade that already has more redundancy than a presidential bunker?”

“The east service gate still needs another failsafe.”

“You’re overcompensating.”

“Soot knocked the camera and local sensor feed offline for sixty seconds. That’s unacceptable.”

“Soot is in custody.”

“Someone else could have the same tech.”

“And someone could drop from the sky in a helicopter and land on the roof wearing tap shoes. That doesn’t mean you never leave the compound again.”

He gave her a look. “If someone attacks this compound in tap shoes, I’m blaming you.”

“I’ll accept that risk.” Her phone buzzed on the counter. She picked it up and checked the screen. Must have been Ian from the way her expression lit up.

He finished his sandwich while she typed a reply. She slid the phone into her pocket, picked up his plate, and shoved it into his hand. “There’s a problem in the common room.”

He looked down at the sandwich, then back at her. “What kind of problem?”

“The gaming system isn’t working.”

He frowned at her. “I’ll fix it later.”

“Ian’s on his way,” she said. “I want the console fixed before he gets here.”

“Ian’s been gone for two weeks. I doubt the first thing he’ll want to do when he gets home is play video games.”

“You don’t know that. Take your sandwich and fix the console.”

“I’ll do it after I eat.”

“Take the sandwich with you. Go.”