Liora had left us standing at our first checkpoint. It still didn't sit right with me. I hated that she had gone alone. But she had asked me to trust her. A few minutes later, Xander appeared. Right on time. So far, everything was going according to plan. No one said a word while we waited for Hayden. The tension was thick in the early morning hours. The sky was still dark, but the soft light was coming over the horizon. Hayden showed up later than I wanted him to. The kind of late that left my stomach twisting, like every minute was one more chance for something to go wrong. But when he arrived, his shoulders were tense, and his gaze kept darting around. Before I could ask, Hayden gave us an update.
“She got inside,” he said. “Piece of cake,”
“Yeah?” I asked as I studied him closely. “T
