KIRA

The response came the following evening, just before dark.

Marcus brought it to me directly as I'd asked, the channel clean, the message short. Three sentences written in a hand that was very controlled, the kind of control that came from years of having to write things that couldn't afford to be misread.

*I've been waiting. I have what you need. Tell me when and I'll get it out.*

That was all.

I read it twice and then I sat down at the desk and I wrote back myself, in my own hand, no ...