I asked. We don't, Rook Vatcher said plainly. Once Sihaya and I ride into that camp, we're on our own until we can signal you. The plan had a hundred ways to fall apart, but it was the only shot we had to get the information needed to stop Varick Holt's ambush on the Ash Trail Caravan. That night, while we finished preparing, Sihaya and I found ourselves alone again on Garrick's porch.
The sky was thick with stars, and the night air carried the scent of wild flowers and open earth. You afraid? I asked. I am, she admitted. But not of Holt.
I'm afraid of what might happen to you if this goes wrong. Nothing's going to happen to me, I said, taking her hand. And not to you, either. I won't allow it. She squeezed my fingers gently.
Dax, there's something I need to tell you about my brother and Varick Holt. What is it? Cairo wasn't just working for him, she said quietly. He was his right hand for nearly 2 years. He knew everything.
Where everybody was buried, literally and otherwise. The weight of that hit hard. When he tried to leave, she went on. Holt didn't just kill him to keep him quiet. He tortured him, trying to find out if he'd told anyone what he knew.
My jaw tightened. Holt thinks you know what Cairo knew, I said. She nodded. That's why they've been hunting me so hard. It's not just revenge.
It's about protecting his secrets. That changed everything. This plan just got a whole lot more dangerous, I said. If Holt suspects, even for a second, you're lying to him, he'll kill me slow, she finished. I know, she added softly.
But those secrets, they're the key to bringing all of it down. If I can get to his records, his plans, his contacts, we could end it. Not just the caravan ambush, everything. Her voice steadied. The kidnappings, the killings, the corruption.
We could stop it for good. Standing there under the stars, looking at her, brave, unshaken, I felt something shift deep inside me. This wasn't just about saving a caravan anymore. This was justice. For Cairo, for every soul Holt had broken, for the life we were trying to build together.
All right, I said. We do it. But promise me something. What? If things go sideways, you run.