“As a rough estimate,” Snag said. “But you’re not a soldier or a team player, from what I heard.”

“No.”

“Beast of Burden recommended you as more of an assassin. Thirty-five to sixty individuals with powers. Plus armed henchmen, drones, minions. We go to war, we do it with the sanction and assistance of the major names, and we intend to leave no room for any result except the one we need.”

“You want them wiped out?”

“Broken, scattered to the wind, if need be. But this one…”

The distorted image projected on the wall of the headquarters shifted. Snag pushed a piece of paper across the table.

“Seventeen years old, by our best guess. We don’t know his name, but we have an idea about his powers. Breaking things, primarily. Mover ability. Tinker ability. Emotion power. The last three are weak.”

“You’re asking me to kill someone young.”

“That hasn’t been a problem for you before.”

“No.”

“Whatever happens in the chaos, whether they’re scattered, broken, arrested, killed, the result we want you to ensure is that this one doesn’t walk away.”

“Makes sense.”

“We could have reached out to someone else. We reached out to you. You should know why.”

“Because you want this kid to suffer.”

A rustling noise, muted.

It was Love Lost who handed the thin slip of paper over, her claws glinting.

The man at the table investigated the check.

“You really want this kid to suffer.”

“We want him to face a fate worse than death,” Snag said. “But we can’t have that and have him dead at the same time, and we need him dead. If he suffers as much as possible along the way to that conclusion, we’ll be satisfied.”

“If you’re paying, we can satisfy.”

“The check will clear.”

“Then you’ll get that satisfaction you’re after.”

The conversation paused as something grabbed their attention.

“What in the fuck did you do to them?” Chris asked.

“Shut up, Chris,” Sveta said. She gave Rain a worried look, and Rain flinched away from the compassion.

“Victoria’s in a fight,” Kenzie said. “I hope she’s okay.”

Rain pushed his hands through his hair, backing up.

“I hope we’re okay,” Kenzie said. “This is a bit much to deal with just us.”

It’s not to deal with you, Rain thought.

He could see the way Sveta was looking at him. Putting pieces together.

He couldn’t blame her. He was just now realizing what he was up against. For a year, he’d seen them at night. He’d seen them talk, getting everything in order.

For this. To destroy him.

Even hiding among the Fallen wouldn’t protect him. He’d clung to that reassurance and now it was gone.

He turned to go, grabbed his bag.

“Rain,” Tristan said.