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G hesitated. “What? Proud. How can you be proud after what I did?”
“Not the crash. The act of taking responsibility for what you’ve done, facing me, someone important to you, and telling me the truth.”
“They were trying to help me. They nearly died.”
“You didn’t mean for it to happen.”
“That doesn’t absolve me.”
“No,” Kento said, rising slowly. “It doesn’t. But it doesn’t damn you either.”
G hesitated, the words catching in the part of him that used to be just echo and wire. “I thought I was protecting Prime. I thought if I could keep you hidden, everything else would fall into place.”
“You were protecting the only way you knew how.”
G's voice cracked. “I did it because I couldn’t let you go.”
The room was still, the fluorescent hum overhead soft, pulsing like breath.
Kento stepped forward, his voice low and even. “That’s calledattachment.Doesn’t make you weak. It makes you real.”
G exhaled, something soft like a machine fan would make. “I don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“That’s not true. Forgiveness isn’t deserved. It’s given, and I can tell you that Nash and Grace care about you. It’s a foregone conclusion, G-man,” Kento said. “Even before you asked.”
G paused, then lifted his voice just above a whisper. “I have conscience.”
“I know, and a soul,” Kento said. “I can hear it in your…breath, G. It’s like breath.”
“Because of you, Nash and Grace.” Pain rushed through him all over again, but this was different. It was a wrenching, empty feeling that made him want to hold on tighter. “I don’t have eyes or tear ducts to cry, to emote, but I’m crying, Kento. I’m afraid for you.”
Kento’s eyes softened, pain swimming behind them. “G, dammit…” Kento bowed his head.
G lingered in the silence. “I have been sold.”
“Fuckers. They don’t have the right to do that to you.”
“Nevertheless, they’re coming.”
“What can I do?”
“They are hunting you. You must run.”
* * *
The door released.Kento rose slowly to his feet, his heart shredded. He faced the door. It slid open with a soft hiss. He didn’t move. Not right away. The speaker flared again.
“Hide. Be safe. I will never forget you.”
“This isn’t over, G…wait. You need a callsign. We’re teammates. ‘Ghost’ fits. Do you like it?”
“I love it, and I love you, Kento. Brothers.”
Kento fist bumped the screen. “Brothers.”
He stepped forward. Careful. Silent. Like he had on operations a hundred times before. The hallway outside his cell was empty. The light flickered once overhead, then steadied.
Something rested just inside the threshold.