She lifted her brow in a deliberate attempt to convey unconcern. “I walked away.”
“You ran away,” he retorted knowingly. “There’s a difference.”
There was a difference, and she knew it.
She simply didn’t want to discuss it.
“When I can’t run from him any longer, I’ll let you know,” she promised, tipping the bottle to her lips again.
“And what would happen to you if you stopped running?” Compassion filled his voice. “If you suddenly found you needed more than a drink to sleep on the bad nights?”
He nodded to the beer she was lowering.
“You think I drink to sleep?” she asked, amused. “Tell me, have you ever slipped into my apartment and caught me asleep?”
She knew he hadn’t.
His head tilted to the side as he watched her, dissected her.
“Never,” he finally admitted. “But I haven’t tried to.”
“Then try,” she suggested. “But don’t stay long if you do catch my eyes closed, because it never lasts.”
She and sleep were not close personal acquaintances. But she and the nightmares that followed her were.
“That Breed won’t be easy to turn away,” he told her. “And getting the information we need will be impossible if you ignore him.”
“Getting the information you need will be impossible if I sleep with him, remember?” she said, mocking him. “If I sleep with him, then you’ll no longer answer my calls.”
“I have voice mail. Leave a message. I’ll always listen.”
Gypsy narrowed her gaze on him as he slowly straightened from his position against the door frame.
“Are you rescinding the terms of my participation?” she asked slowly.
“That’s not possible,” he sighed heavily. “But should you break the terms of your participation, it doesn’t mean I’ll completely desert you. I’ll just refuse to work with you further.”
“Have you ever considered how ignorant that would be?” she asked him as she shook her head, disbelief reflecting in her voice now. “The information I pull in for you in a week’s time amazes even me. I never use a computer, I never endanger myself or my friends, but you still get more information than you know what to do with. Would you really cut me off like that?”
“Of course.”
Disbelief coursed through her. “For God’s sake, why?”
“The same reason we should have cut your brother off when he and Thea Lacey became lovers. He became careless,” he stated, his voice harsh now. “I won’t take that risk with you.”
“Mark wasn’t the one who became careless,” she sneered. “And we both know it.”
“Gypsy.” It was one of the few times he used her name.
“Don’t Gypsy me.” Anger surged through her.
Finishing the beer, she tossed the bottle in the trash before turning on the warrior furiously. “I was careless. And I refuse to discuss it. Now tell me why you’re here, or leave so I can shower.”
Silence stretched between them. A lengthy, tension-filled silence that warned her that the warrior was seriously considering continuing the confrontation.
God, don’t let him continue the confrontation, she thought painfully. She didn’t think she could bear it.
Finally, he shook his head, breathing out heavily.
“The information we suspected the Breeds have on the Unknown has been confirmed. We have a leak among our contacts, and we need to know who that leak is. We need you to find out who that leak is.”
A leak?
“How many contacts do you have, exactly?” she asked then, tamping down her anger from moments before as she stared back at him suspiciously.
“The number wouldn’t help you,” he told her, the arrogance that was so much a part of him reminding her far too much of Commander Breaker.
“Okay then, a list of known contacts?” she asked instead.
“Such a thing doesn’t exist.”
When she would have argued that statement, his hand lifted in a gesture of silence before he continued. “There are six of us, and each of us has our own contacts that we’re forbidden to identify. Even we have rules we have to abide by, Whisper.”
How shocking.
“Forbidden to identify,” she murmured, disgust curling at her lips. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? That would just make it far too easy, wouldn’t it?”
“I thought you’d see it that way,” he agreed as though perfectly serious. “You enjoy doing everything else the hard way, I thought you’d appreciate that one too.”
Clenching her teeth as her lips thinned, she propped her hands on her hips and faced him, knowing he would clearly read the mocking suspicion in her face.
“So how am I supposed to figure out who this contact is?” she snapped. “Am I supposed to sleep with Rule and forever give up my own dreams to do so?”
“Your dreams?” he argued with a muffled chuckle. “Working with us was never your dream, Whisper. It’s your albatross. Your self-punishment and nothing else. You gave up your dreams for your grief, and you and I both know it.”
God, she hated him.
“Go to hell.”
It wasn’t the first time they’d had this argument, nor was it the first time she’d cursed him.
“Been there,” he stated with an edge of boredom. “As for how you do it? However you must, but we have to know what information they have, and exactly where they managed to unearth it. Nothing else matters. To survive, we have to remain hidden. Remain a fairy tale to our people. Somehow, someone’s contact has managed to acquire enough information to identify at least one of us. If one of us falls, eventually we’ll all fall.”
Blinking back at him in shock, she gave her head a little shake.
“How do you know one of the Unknown has been identified?” she questioned him, suspicion and disbelief suspended for the moment. “You don’t let anyone know who you are.”
“I don’t,” he agreed. “What one of the others has done, I can’t say for certain. All I know for a fact is that my contact within Jonas Wyatt’s force assures me that one of us has been identified. He was unable to learn who, or how.”
“You have a Breed contact?” That did surprise her. “He’s in a better position than I am—”
“Jonas is also aware that the Unknown has a contact on his force,” he snapped, anger edging into his tone now. “Whoever betrayed us knows far too much about us. Enough to assure me that the warrior that handles him has taken this person into their confidence. And that can’t be tolerated or allowed to continue. And I can’t trust the others to ensure that the identity of the warrior is not revealed. That leaves you with the task of identifying them. Because other than you and the Breed within Wyatt’s unit, I have no other contacts that my fellow warriors aren’t aware of.”
So what happened to an Unknown when they were fired? Gypsy had a feeling the position didn’t come with an out clause.
“You’re certain Jonas can identify one of you?” she whispered.
“I was told that Jonas was overheard making the statement that the Unknown were no more a fairy tale than the Breeds themselves were and that he now had the information he needed to question one of them.”
Yeah, that sounded like Jonas Wyatt knew exactly who he was looking for.
She knew Jonas too well to ever doubt he knew exactly what he was talking about. She’d heard far too many tales about Wyatt, and listened to far too many Breeds discuss him when they thought no one could overhear. He didn’t make generalized statements. If he had what he needed to question someone, then he knew who the hell that someone was.
Her own experience with Wyatt nine years before, and again after he and his family arrived in Window Rock, confirmed her supposition. She’d even managed to secure two invitations over the past two weeks to lunch with Rachel and Amber, as well as Isabelle Martinez and Ashley, one of the Coyote females with whom she’d become friends.