Page 89 of Ember Rising

“Briefings come before showers.”

I turn and see a man looking at me from a bench in the locker room, his brow furrowed in a cross expression.

“I take it you’re Gabriel?”

I heard the current leader of this hub doesn’t like it when people don’t do things his way, so I was prepared for a confrontation.

“Yes. You’re late getting here, and I need you in a briefing room within ten minutes.”

Before, I would have agreed. I’ve been following a chain of command since I joined the Navy at age eighteen. Never questioning orders. Always putting the mission first.

I’m done with that shit. I put on a clean T-shirt, taking my time responding.

“I’m going back to the medical building to stay with Amira until she wakes up and I know she’s okay.”

Gabriel scoffs and stands. “No, you’re not. I’m in command of this hub, and I don’t give a shit if you developed a crush on her. She’s a former Deadman. They’ve killed hundreds of our people.”

I’ve reported to hot heads before. Ingrid Voss was one. Some of my superiors in the Navy damn near made me shit my pants when I was younger. It’s ironic how often I use my de-escalation training on commanding officers.

“Respectfully, I’m not ready for the briefing yet.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “The Deadmen are responsible for more losses in this region in the past year than any other group. She’s our first asset who has been on the inside. I have interrogators on standby.”

“No one’s interrogating her.”

He shrugs. “Not your call. That’s why you brought her here.”

“If anyone lays a finger on her, you won’t get any cooperation from either of us. When she’s well, I’ll ask her if she wants to help.”

“You were in the field on Island Three for a long time, so I’m cutting you some slack. But this is not the way we operate. You’re ILF, but she’s not.”

“Yes, she is. She volunteered.”

“That was only offered so we could get her here and interrogate her.”

I agreed to bring Amira here before I knew her. I fought the feelings I was developing for her, knowing I hadn’t been entirely honest. But then I gave in, and now I’ve probably destroyed her trust in me.

“Let me talk to her.”

“We can go into her room together, before the interrogators start.”

“No.” Menace creeps into my tone. “No one’s interrogating her.”

He’s unbothered. “You didn’t bring her here to teach anyone archery. You knew that all along.”

“For fuck’s sake, we don’t lean on people who are willing to cooperate.”

“Interrogation is questioning. That’s not leaning.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I know what interrogation is. I’ve done it many times. You have to approach people the right way. She won’t be comfortable talking to people she doesn’t know.”

He sneers at me. “I lost two close friends to a Deadmen attack last year. They were poisoned and their stomachs slowly disintegrated. I don’t give a shit about her comfort.”

“She wasn’t one of them. Her boyfriend was.”

“Bullshit. She was complicit. She can give us intel. As long as she cooperates, she won’t even get a scratch.”

I made a mistake bringing Amira here. The past few days, guilt has been eating away at me. The Deadmen are mercenaries. They’ve killed people I considered friends. My brother narrowly escaped one of their attacks. If I was face to face with one of them, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill them.