“Ember?” Garret’s voice echoed softly across the room, wrenching me out of my daze. I might’ve gone a little pale, because his gray eyes were worried as they met mine. “What’s wrong?”

“Dante,” I whispered, and both he and Riley jerked up at the name. “Dante is part of this. He’s behind the cover-up. This message is to him.”

Both boys came to my side immediately, peering over my shoulders at the laptop screen. “Well, shit,” Riley growled in my ear. “Then we definitely need to visit this ‘specified location’ and see what the hell is going on.”

I stared at the screen, seeing only my brother’s name, standing out from the rest. Dante. All the feelings I thought I’d repressed—hurt, dismay, anger, betrayal—surged up again, making my stomach turn. Why are you involved in this? What the hell are you doing?

The words on-screen seemed to mock me. I was vaguely aware of Riley grabbing a scrap of paper and scribbling something down. “All right, that’s it,” he announced, straightening quickly. “I think we’ve found everything we can. Let’s get out of here before her guards come back.”

I shook myself, following Riley to the door with Garret close at my back. Now was not the time to dwell on traitorous siblings. I would think about my brother, and his role in this whole sordid mess, later. When we were away from the hotel and shady Talon agents who could return at any moment.

But as Riley opened the door and peered out, voices echoed down the corridor, making him jerk back. Through the frame, I saw two people walking toward us down the hall. One was a large man with a thick neck and chest, one of the guards we’d seen with Miranda. The other, walking beside him, was a small, slender woman with long black hair...

...dressed only in a towel.

For a second, my brain stuttered. It was Jade, I could see that, but the woman walking toward us with the guard was as different from the poised, elegant Eastern dragon as a swan was to a chicken. Snatches of conversation drifted to us, with Jade thanking the guard for escorting her back to her room, and how silly she felt for locking herself out. Her voice was high-pitched, giggly and slightly slurred, and she swayed a bit when she walked, as if very drunk. Of course, the guard wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings, being distracted by the beautiful Asian woman in nothing but a towel. But we were still trapped. They were still coming toward us, and if we tried to leave now, the man would definitely see us.