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Co to me hat seems to be polite interest and noher jaw, andin it," I say disain "Not unlike the fairy tales they tell to keep thes Stories about how they keepit and it’s never in the sa else?"

I shakea hand over her hair and then getting to her feet "Thank you, Captain"

I scan her face, looking for so, that will explain her sudden interest and her just as sudden dismissal There’s little to read there--theon Tohen it coaze moves too quickly, lips thin, shoulders rounded y And I don’t think it’s solely fro to worry about, though Just stories"

She nods, lips curving in the barest hint of a smile "Understood, Captain Carry on--I’ll be in touch"

I can’t explain why, but I have the strongest sense she’s not involved That she’s every bit as driven as I a out there Her movements are quick, jerky, anxious She wants to be out of here as badly as I want her to go I haven’t forgotten why I’m really here

For half an instant, I want to blurt the truth But to do so would reveal my part in all of this; that I could have captured a key player from the Fianna and didn’t, that I’d let him escape from me not once now, but twice It would reveal that I’d betrayed my purpose here

Most of all, it would betray Coret toa salute at Commander Towers as she turns and strides fro htly behind her

By clearing the rooiven e a desk chair over so that the door, should anyone open it, will hit the chair with a clatter A locked door would screa enough for me to distancein a deep breath, I drop into another chair and start hunting for the files I need

It takes ate to the places where the surveillance footage is stored, but that’s not the hard part Deleting those files is the work of a few seconds The real challenge is locating the places where the various files are backed up

My fingers know the way,One of the ht me how to do this, and he learned it fro My old captain, when I was a corporal, let us learn on the sly You never pass up anything that can be used as a weapon, he said, any way of fighting that doesn’t involve bloodshed I chafed at the instruction at the time--ould I ever need to learn how to hack into secure files?--but now, I ht

I try to focus I can’t stop to think about what I’, because it betrays every oath I’ve ever taken, every order I’ve ever received It betrays everything I believe in It’s a violation deep enough to makea rebel A criminal A person whose friend just killed over thirty people, including someone I loved like a brother

My eyes blur with exhaustion, and I have to pause to wipe my sleeve across rime on the fabric Now and then footsteps approach the door, but they always continue on past, striding away in ti of ht pop their head in

There--finally The fourth and final backup Thethe natural nu breath-stealing instant thinking about my deletion con it was ever there No trace of the treason I’ve just co care to erase any record I was ever poking around in there The s, I slip out into the corridor and let the roo, I float down the hallway toward the exit, li nausea I need to get back to my quarters Have a shower, lie down for a few et Cormac out, now that we have some time to ith

The corridor opens up into the main room, where the techs from the surveillance repository have joined the officers currently on duty They’re all crowded around one of the er split to show the live feeds fro the sae over and over in a loop

I take a few steps closer, peering silently past their heads--and ly erased One of the techswhile evicted froe--they’ve finished cleaning it up and enhancing it The clip playing over and over again shows hiant smile