Page 45 of Fractured Loyalties (Tainted Souls #2)

Mara walks to the patch and picks it up, holding it like it might bite. “Could Vale have sent them…to warn us?”

“If he did,” I say, “he’s even dumber than I thought.”

But I’m not sure. Not anymore.

Because if Vale knows his brother is alive, and he still sent men after me...then the game’s changed. And it’s not just Volker playing anymore.

It’s everyone I thought I had history with.

And maybe some ghosts I thought were long dead.

Lydia is cleaning the barrel of her rifle in the far corner, her movements brisk and mechanical. Kinley’s at the window again, watching the tree line like it’s about to grow teeth. Mara sits on the armrest of the couch, her hand absently worrying a cut along her knuckle. None of us speak.

Then my phone vibrates.

Not the secure one. The unlisted one. The line no one uses unless they want to bleed.

I answer without looking at the number.

“Speak.”

A familiar voice comes through, breathless, calm, male.

“Did you enjoy my welcome party?”

"Vale," I say.

Kinley turns at the sound of his name, already moving.

I put the phone on speaker as I reply evenly, “Your men were sloppy. One cried when his femur snapped. You used to run tighter ops.”

Vale breathes a sharp laugh. “They weren’t mine.”

“Bullshit.”

“I sent a tracker. Not a kill team. But someone intercepted it. Spun the whole thing sideways.”

Mara shifts. I glance at her, then back to the phone.

I say, “You knew Jori was alive.”

Silence.

Then Vale answers, quieter. “Not until two days ago.”

“And you said nothing.”

“What would you have me do? Tell you while Volker was listening? I don’t get the luxury of silence like you do.”

“You still sent shadows into my perimeter. You still let him use you.”

“I didn’t let him. I didn’t have a fucking choice.”

The silence builds between us like a drawstring being pulled tight around something fragile.

Vale continues, voice steadier now. “He’s using Jori to bait me. He wanted to see if I’d run back to him. I didn’t. I sent a signal to you. I thought it’d reach you before he…twisted it.”

Kinley whispers, “It makes sense. The signal we intercepted was too clean. Someone re-broadcast it.”

I murmur into the phone, “And what’s your plan now, Vale? Hope I forgive the mistake? Or trade my head for your brother’s?”

“I want him back,” Vale says. “Alive. If you can get him out, I’ll give you what Volker’s holding back. Everything.”

“And what makes you think I won’t take it after I put a bullet through your eye?”

“Because you need me,” Vale says, steel threading into his voice. “You don’t know everything. Not yet. And he’s only just started calling you Eidolon again. That means he hasn’t unleashed the part he’s still hiding.”

I clench my jaw. The name tastes like ash.

“What’s he hiding?” I ask.

Vale hesitates. Then:

“The reason why he needs her.”

Mara.

The line goes dead.

Lydia lowers her gun slowly. “Well. That was friendly.”

Mara’s pale. Her voice is steady, but tight. “What does he mean?”

I look at her. Really look. There’s fear in her eyes, yes. But something else too.

Resolve.

“He means we’re out of time,” I say.

Because if Volker wanted to use me as a myth, then Mara….

She’s his altar.

Mara doesn’t move. Neither do I.

Lydia clicks the safety back onto her sidearm and mutters, “I really hate cryptic bastards.”

Kinley speaks next, his voice low and even. “You believe him?”

“No,” I say. “But I believe what he’s afraid of.”

I sit, finally, because the blood loss is catching up. My shoulder pulses in time with my heart, and each beat is its own accusation. I was slow. Distracted. And Volker is still ahead.

Mara sits beside me. She doesn’t ask for permission.

I glance at her profile—the sharp set of her jaw, the way she hides her shaking hand in her lap. She wants answers. But more than that, she wants to be part of them.

“He said Volker needs you,” I tell her. “And he meant it. That wasn’t bait.”

Her voice is barely a whisper. “Why me?”

I don’t answer.

Because I don’t know yet.

Kinley steps away from the window. “We need to leave. Whatever Vale meant to warn us about, it’s in motion now. He called you because he knows he can’t stop it alone.”

Lydia is already packing her gear. She doesn’t argue.

Mara stands. “Where are we going?”

“To pull one more thread,” I say, rising slowly. “Before the whole thing unravels.”

We head for the SUV Lydia parked out front, and I instruct Kinley to pop the rear hatch.

Tucked beneath the false bottom compartment are two tactical duffels, exactly where I stashed them since all these started.

One is mine—black, worn, marked from years of rotations.

The other is newer, smaller, packed in case we needed to go underground quickly.

I unzip the newer one and glance inside: forged ID, burner phone, folded cash in multiple currencies, a change of clothes, a second sidearm. It’s the go-bag I packed for Mara.

I close the zipper and nod. “We’re good.”

Mara watches quietly from the side, her brow furrowing. “You packed that…for me?”

I meet her eyes. “Always plan for extraction. Especially for the people who matter.”

She doesn’t smile, but something softens on her face. It stays with her as she slides into the backseat beside me.

Kinley drives. Lydia rides shotgun.

Outside, the wind has picked up. The sky looks like it’s been scraped raw, clouds dragging low and fast across the pine-covered hills.

Mara watches me quietly for several minutes, then asks, “If he’s using me…do you think he knew I’d come with you?”

I look at her. “Volker’s a strategist. He doesn’t leave things to chance. He knew.”

“Then I played right into it.”

“No,” I say. “You made the choice. There’s a difference.”

She leans her head back against the seat and closes her eyes.

In the rearview mirror, Lydia catches my gaze. “So, what’s the move?”

“We find Jori,” I say. “And then we bury Volker with whatever’s left.”

Mara speaks again. “And if he already broke him?”

I don’t flinch.

“Then we break him back.”

Because last time, back in the facility, Jori was caught on surveillance near Sublevel C, hallway six. Volker wanted us to see him. Let us see him. He dangled him like bait.

When we set off the charges, they were focused on the upper east wing and the main server room—just enough to collapse access routes and fry the surveillance grid.

But the other levels? They’re still intact.

Volker built his foundations deep, and we’re betting he didn’t expect us to come back so soon.

This time, we go in from beneath. From the supply tunnels that snake under the western access road—old maintenance shafts they used for transporting sealed crates when the upper docks were offline.

And we don’t leave without Jori.