The Grim (Ravens #3)

xxix. the inside man

 With her hood drawn up as always, Emma Gail Harlem scanned the street for any wandering eyes, any familiar faces, any stranger who may have been assigned to follow her movements, and when the coast was clear, knocked on the front door of the motel room. The plan had been to go through the front; if the royal couple had been onto her at all, they would have expected her to use the more inconspicuous entrance. She told the group she'd be back at 2:00 exactly, and that the longer she stood outside the more of a risk she posed. Donny opened the door within a second.

"You're here," he said, his face lighting up as if he was almost surprised to see her.

"I make commitments," Emma shrugged, entering the room quickly and shutting the door behind her, ridding the street of all evidence of her visit.

"So they didn't find the chip?" he asked, and from the looks on the others' faces, he seemed to speak for the rest.

"Not yet," she said, a small smirk creeping across her face, a smug pride gleaming in her eyes. "I took it with me this morning, visited Ezra, the usual. Hunter will see that it was moving around, so he won't have any reason to assume it's not with me."

"Wow," Skylar muttered from across the room. Since Emma had returned, she had turned her attention back to some book, thumbing through the pages so slowly that the assassin knew she was hardly focusing on the words. "Carrying it around with you? How rebellious."

Emma's eyes narrowed, and a burning anger began to boil in her blood. Donny held his breath, watching timidly as his friend's composure hardened and the fire seemed to rise throughout her body. He was waiting for her to erupt, to fall off that tiny ledge on which she'd stood for so long, but Emma only bit her tongue. She took a deep breath. She'd learned to silence herself, learned to douse her flames. They had no time for her fragile hubris. Exhaling, she spoke with a voice clear and crisp as night. "Where's Sebastian?"

"Back door, negotiating with Grey," said Skylar. As though it was now intentional, she began to thumb through the pages of her book a little more quickly, creating this image that she was ever so casual, and that her previous comment was not intentionally rude at all. "Come here, I'll fill you in on what you've missed."

Rolling her eyes slightly, Emma walked across to the back of the room. "It's been five hours since I left," she said, "How are you still negotiating? All they have to do is send the rover."

"You would think," muttered Skylar. She then lowered her voice so that the others couldn't hear over the hum of the generator. "I heard you guys last night. I told Grey about Ezra, said he was the one who's been helping us. She said that if he makes it to the rover, they won't turn him away. Examine him, question him, whatever. It's better than nothing."

"That's perfect."

"And I didn't tell her about you," added the older girl. This caught Emma by surprise. Although she had begged Sebastian to keep her a secret from the other city, she was fully prepared for her brother to betray that trust again. She was prepared for them all to. "Sebastian thinks I did, but I heard you last night."

She smiled slightly. "I didn't expect you to listen to me. Especially not about Ezra."

"The way I see it, if he stayed it could go one of two ways," Skylar explained. "Either you're right about him and he gets killed because you were reckless with the tracker, or you were wrong and he ends up ratting you out. If he leaves, neither of you screw over the other."

"So you think I need protection from my boyfriend," Emma murmured. "Great, thanks."

"Or I'm protecting him from you."