8
Gia
A chime from her comm — the “it’s the boss” chime — wakes her.
It takes her a moment to realize that she was dreaming, because she never sleeps deeply enough to dream; it takes a moment longer to realize she’s not in her Bulari apartment — or in her hotel bed on Maribi. Or alone.
She blinks herself awake with heart racing to find Tevi. Okay. She checks the time on her comm: it’s still plenty early. Good.
A new message from Jaantzen blinks on the screen. Gia rolls away from Tevi’s gentle snores, then plays the message with the volume almost all the way down.
A trick of the camera is painting Jaantzen’s dark-brown skin ashen, and he’s thinner than she’s ever seen him. Not gaunt — the big man will never be gaunt. But . . . haunted.
She glances over her shoulder as the message beg
