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Mae got the call from Leo about her test results on the way to Justin’s house She wasn’t surprised to hear she wasn’t a match to the victims She’d expected that, no matter how much Justin advocated his conspiracy theory

It was the other results Mae was interested in, the ones she hadn’t told Justin about When Justin had left to answer a call during their Nipponese lunch, she’d taken a leap of faith and asked Leo for a favor Their relationship had waraiven her, feeling both terrified and excited over what Leo ht uncover He’d promised discretion and hadn’t asked many questions

"It’s a hit," he told her when he called "Definitely a relative of yours"

Mae sat on the train, her ego pressed to her ear in voice-only mode "How close?"

"Twenty-five percent , niece or nephew, aunt or uncle" He paused "Double first cousins too"

"I see" She took a deep breath "Can you tell which?"

"No, all I can go by is the nuenes that match Send et a closer hit"

Good luck with that Mae entertained a brief fantasy of stealthily cutting off a lock of her sister’s hair "I don’t think that’ll be possible"

"Does it help you at all?"

Did it? Mae didn’t know The only thing it proved for sure was that Emil had obtained some relative’s hair Of course, there was still that picture, but that wasn’t hard evidence, no matter the fah archives of children’s pictures to find a Koskinen likeness

"It helps," she told Leo If nothing else, it showed her the extent to which the Br&ou;torian asset "Thank you I appreciate it"

She could sense his discomfort Their relationship still wasn’t entirely fir Justin…you didn’t, right?"

That brought on a snort of laughter "If I had, he probably would’ve been at your door thisanswers This is the kind of mystery he lives for"

Mae had to concur as they disconnected She ht have been just a conquest, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still try to wheedle information out of her--or anyone else he encountered Maybe he couldn’t help it, as he’d claily, the borderlands didn’t have hts, and it took them the better part of the day to reach their destination When they stepped off their plane, Mae caught her breath Spring had co war sun as their flight had descended, and noith darkness falling, the twinkling lights of buildings could be seen in the distance, where the bulk of the city sat on a hill

"This could be a vacation," Justinback traumatic flashbacks of Panama"

"Not as humid That, and it’s safer"

"You sure about that?" she asked She’d been in enough borderlands to know that unsavory elements lurked beneath the surface, those eren’t quite on board with their new governreeo out to rateful to be in the folds of civilization"

Near the airport, state-funded light-rail tracks were under construction, pro the efficiency the rest of the country enjoyed Driverless cars had spread to this region, however, and it was easy enough to catch one into the city There, she found Justin’s vacation coht have beenin a beachside resort