Dust drifted slowly from the tunnel ceiling after the explosion.
For a moment, none of us spoke.
The man in the dark coat watched me carefully, like someone observing the final move in a long chess game.
Behind me, Mira finally broke the silence.
“You’re lying,” she said again, but this time her voice wasn’t as certain.
The man looked at her calmly.
“You know I’m not.”
“You betrayed the Circle.”
“I improved it.”
“You destroyed it.”
“No,” he said quietly.
“I finished what we started.”
I folded my arms.
“Both of you keep talking like I’m some kind of long-term investment.”
He smiled faintly.
“In a way, you are.”
“I don’t like that answer.”
“You don’t have to like it,” he said. “But it’s still true.”
Another distant echo of gunfire rolled through the tunnels behind us.
Clos
