Page 56 of The ARC Unit: Breach

Wolf answered so quickly the second word had barely left my mouth.

“No.”

“You didn’t even think about it.”

“I did.”

“For what, half a second?”

“Long enough.”

Jackal stopped spinning the pen he had somehow reacquired.

I pushed my chair back. “I’m literally the only person here who can walk through the front door without looking like I’m there to assassinate the catering staff.”

Jackal glanced around the table. “That’s unfair. I can look extremely social.”

Viper looked at him. “You look like you sell cocaine to DJs.”

There was a beat of silence.

Jackal nodded. “Still invited to more parties than you.”

Bear covered his mouth with one hand. Raven lowered his eyes toward the keyboard with suspicious speed and even Hawk’s mouth moved. Wolf waited until the room had finished betraying itself.

“Mercer isn’t going inside.”

I turned back to him. “Why?”

“Because you’re an intelligence officer.”

“You say that like intelligence officers are grown in server rooms.”

“You’re not an operator.”

“I didn’t say I was.”

“Good.”

“I also don’t need a Glock and a plate carrier to drink champagne next to Luca Bellandi.”

Wolf straightened slowly. The movement made him seem larger even from across the table.

“You don’t know Bellandi.”

“I know his businesses, the school he went to, the last four funds he raised money for and the fact that he has spent the better part of five years investing in companies with ownership structures messy enough to hide a corpse in. I know he likes watches, colognes, brunettes and talking about himself in interviews. I know enough about the people around him to survive a conversation.”

Jackal glanced at my hair.

I caught it.

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say shit.”

“Your face did.”

Raven murmured, “That one appears to be contagious.”