"I trust what he can do," he said.
That wasn’t quite the sa as trust, but for Zayden, it was probably as close as he could get.
Zeynep leaned on the table with her elbow and rested her chin in her hand. "He must be important, huh? You’re giving him the good apple."
Zayden let out a quiet breath, a hint of amusent in his eyes, even if his face didn’t change much. "He’d freak out if I gave him the mushy one."
She smiled, mostly to herself. Seeing him care without saying it felt real, but it also felt a bit lonely.
"You act like you don’t care," she said casually, "but you care more than you let on."
That made him pause.
He stared at her for a mont, trying to figure out if she was trying to be nice or getting in his face. Then he looked away and picked up the wrapped plate.
"Don’t tell anyone," he said dryly as he walked toward the back hallway.
She chuckled softly, shaking her head while gathering the bowls. "Your secret’s safe with ."
As she rinsed the dishes, her eyes stayed on the hallway where he had gone.
Zayden was a guy with a lot of walls, and tonight he’d shown her a peek behind one. Now she was curious about what else he might be hiding and who else might not know.
Zayden walked down the narrow hallway, his boots silent on the wooden floor. He stopped at a hidden panel on the wall. With a soft click, the wall opened up, revealing a steep tunnel.
The warmth of the cabin faded as he stepped into the cold, stone-and-steel passage.
A blue light on the security lock scanned his eye and fingerprint. The door opened with a soft hiss.
Zayden headed down to the dark base, where the steam from the food mixed with the chilly air.
At the bottom, Leo was hunched over a tal desk next to an old communications rig, fiddling with wires and dials while scattered notes covered an open folder. He glanced up when he heard the door creak open.
Zayden silently offered him a plate of food.
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Didn’t know you were in the mood to play house."
Zayden set the plate down. "Just eat."
Leo pulled back the cloth covering the food, steam still rising into the cold air.
He muttered sothing that was half thanks, half sarcasm, before digging in.
While he chewed, he said, "She’s either hiding sothing big or running from sothing worse. I’ll start looking into it tonight, but quietly."
Zayden didn’t answer right away.
He just watched Leo eat, his jaw ticking as his mind raced through a dozen thoughts.
Finally, he said in a low voice, "Whatever it is... I want to know everything."
Leo took another bite, chewing slowly. The base was dimly lit, and the walls humd softly from the powerful generators behind the reinforced steel. In the corner, surveillance monitors flickered with static feeds of the edge of the forest, thermal scans, and unmarked roads.
Leo t Zayden’s gaze, a hint of approval in his eyes.
"I thought you’d say that," he replied.
Zayden stayed where he was, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, eyeing the desk cluttered with files and schematics.
"What’s the latest from the London front?" Zayden asked after a mont.
Leo nodded slowly. "The offshore accounts are holding up. The Canary Group moved the shell companies to a safer chain after the Paris raid. Smart move. Now we’ve got ghosts running the show; no one knows who owns what."
"And what about the weapons route from Istanbul?" Zayden pressed.
"Stable. For now. The new contact at the port seems clean, but he’s nervous and wants out in six months. We’ll need a backup."
Zayden’s jaw tightened. "Find soone quieter. Soone local."
Leo wiped his mouth with the cloth from the food and tossed it beside the empty plate.
"Already on it."
There was a long pause between them, the hum of the base filling the quiet, familiar in its coldness.
Then Zayden spoke up again. "Did you track down the other traitor in the tech division?"
Leo’s face flickered for a mont, a mix of annoyance and frustration showing.
"No," he said curtly. "Whoever it was scrubbed the logs before we could catch it. They covered their tracks too well for soone low-level. I think it’s soone with high clearance... soone we trusted."
Zayden’s voice dropped. "Do you still think they’re inside?"
Leo let out a deep breath. "Nope, they’re gone. They went off the radar the sa night the London safehouse got hit. Took important data, access keys, and codes we didn’t even know were at risk."
Zayden’s hands clenched into fists. "What about that firewall breach from a couple of weeks back?"
Leo nodded grimly. "That was probably them. They’re leaving just enough clues to keep us in the dark. It’s like a ga."
Zayden’s voice sharpened. "We don’t play gas."
Leo glanced over at him. "No, but whoever this is, they’re stalling you. They might be trying to lure you out."
Zayden asked, "Any word on Lunel?"
Still focused on his work, Leo replied without looking up, "Nope, he’s out of the picture—basically gone. Everyone’s saying he’s dead, too. Do you still have that chip you ntioned? We might be able to find him if he’s alive."
Zayden said, "No, I lost it. No clue where it is."
"Okay," Leo said.
The mood in the room shifted.
Zayden was silent, and it spoke volus.
He wasn’t just annoyed; he was deep in thought, planning.
Finally, he pushed off the cool wall and wandered over to the cluttered desk. He picked up an old map, the edges crinkling a bit, and checked out the ssy inked circles and nas, each mark telling its own story. After a mont, he set the map back down gently, as if it held secrets he didn’t want to ss with.
Leo kept an eye on him.
"We’ll track down the traitors," he said quietly. "We always do."
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