Page 200 of Fractured Allegiance

This time, I'm getting her out.

Or I'm dying trying.

My phone vibrates on the table.

Naomi.

I stare at it for a moment, then answer.

"Status?" she says. No greeting. Straight to business.

"Meeting's done, he wanted me to be on guard duty overnight." I tell her. "Drazen's satisfied. For now."

"And how did that go?"

"Handled. No issues. Lydia stayed quiet. I stayed professional. Drazen gave me the all-clear this morning."

There's a pause. I can hear her processing, weighing my tone against what she expected to hear.

"You sound tired," she says.

"I am tired. I stood guard outside a door for twelve hours while listening to her cry on the other side and couldn't do a damn thing about it."

The words come out sharper than I intended.

Another pause.

"Silas," Naomi says, her voice softer now. "I know that wasn't easy. But you did well. You passed the test. Drazen trusts you more now than he did forty-eight hours ago. That's progress."

"Progress," I repeat flatly.

"Yes. Progress." She exhales. "Look, I know you're worried about her. But you need to step back and let this play out naturally. Drazen's paranoid right now, but he's not stupid. If he thought for sure that Lydia was the leak, she'd already be dead. The fact that she's still breathing means he's not convinced."

"Or he's taking his time."

"He's not taking his time, Silas. He's watching. Testing. And as long as she doesn't give him a reason to act, she'll be fine. She's valuable to him. He's not going to throw that away over suspicion."

I grip the phone tighter. "And if he finds something?"

"He won't. Because there's nothing to find." Naomi's tone is firm now. "Lydia's not the leak. We both know that. And Drazen will figure it out eventually. But only if we don't do something stupid that makes him second-guess himself."

"Define stupid."

"Stupid is you trying to play hero," she says bluntly. "Stupid is you breaking cover to extract her before the situation stabilizes. Stupid is you risking everything we've built for one person."

The words land like stones.

"She's not just 'one person,'" I say quietly.

"I know," Naomi replies, and there's something almost sympathetic in her voice. "I know what she is to you. But that's exactly why you need to be smart about this. If you go chargingin, if you blow your cover trying to save her, you don't just burn yourself. You burn her too. Because Drazen will see it for what it is—proof that she means something to you. And the second he sees that, he'll use it against both of you."

I don't answer.

Because she's right.

And I hate that she's right.

"Stay put," Naomi says. "Let the leak investigation run its course. Drazen's people will keep digging, and eventually they'll realize Lydia's not involved. Once that happens, the heat dies down, and we can reassess. But until then, you keep your head down and you stay in role. Understood?"