Xu waited until they were alone that night before raising it. "You need the sixth gate before Garrow or Rong tries anything larger. And this time we can't wait for a wilderness assignment. There isn't time."
"Inside the compound," Wei Liang said. "With guards already watching for exactly this kind of disappearance."
"I know the risk. I'm telling you the alternative risk is worse." Xu's tone left no room for argument. "The fifth gate got you through Rong. It won't get you through Rong and Garrow and whatever comes after, especially not if Liu Che's investigation forces Rong to move faster than he wants to."
Wei Liang sat with that a long moment, then went to find Brigh and Shen Yue separately, laying out what he needed from each of them with the same flat clarity he used for everything n
