The wolf pup wasn’t bad. Ruhn could see them being friends, if their people weren’t constantly at each other’s throats. Literally.
Ruhn said to Agent Daybright, “Thanks for trying to wake me up.”
“What happened?”
“Reapers.”
Her flame guttered to a violet blue. “They attacked you?”
“Long story.” He angled his head. “So I don’t need the crystal to reach you? I can just be unconscious? Sleeping?”
“Perhaps the crystal was only needed to initiate contact between our minds—a beacon for your talents,” she said. “Now that your mind—and mine—knows where to go, you don’t require the crystal anymore, and can contact me even in … inopportune moments.”
A pinprick of guilt poked at him. She was embedded in the higher ranks of the empire—had he endangered her when he’d been unconscious earlier, his mind blindly reaching for hers?
But Daybright said, “I have information for you to pass on.”
“Yeah?”
She straightened. “Is that how Ophion agents speak these days? Yeah?”
She had to be old, then. One of the Vanir who’d lived for so long that modern lingo was like a foreign language. Or, gods, if she was an Asteri …
Ruhn wished he had a wall or a doorway or a counter to lean against as he crossed his arms. “So you’re old-school Pangeran.”
“Your position here isn’t to learn about me. It’s to pass along information. Who I am, who you are, is of no consequence.” She gestured to her flames. “This should tell you enough.”
“About what?”
Her flames pushed closer to her body, turning a vibrant orange—like the hottest embers. The kind that would burn to the bone. “About what shall happen if you ask too many prying questions.”
He smiled slightly. “So what’s the intel?”
“The hit on the Spine is a go.”
Ruhn’s smile faded. “When’s the shipment?”
“Three days from now. It leaves from the Eternal City at six in the morning their time. No planned stops, no refueling. They’ll travel swiftly northward, all the way to Forvos.”
“The mech-suit prototype will be on the train?”
“Yes. And along with it, Imperial Transport is moving fifty crates of brimstone missiles to the northern front, along with a hundred and twelve crates of guns and about five hundred crates of ammunition.”
Burning Solas. “You’re going to stage a heist?”
“I’m not doing anything,” Agent Daybright said. “Ophion will be responsible. I’d recommend destroying it all, though. Especially that new mech-suit. Don’t waste time trying to unload anything from the trains or you’ll be caught.”
Ruhn refrained from mentioning that Cormac had suggested something different. He’d said Ophion wanted to attain the suit—to study it. And use those weapons in their war. “Where’s the best place to intercept?”
He was really doing this, apparently. Pass this intel along, and he was officially aligning himself with the rebels.
“That’s for Ophion Command to decide.”
He asked carefully, “Will Pippa Spetsos be assigned to the hit?” Or was she in Lunathion looking for Emile, as Tharion suspected?
“Does it matter?”
Ruhn shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. “Just want to know whether we need to notify her.”
“I’m not privy to who Command sends on their missions.”
“Do you know where Pippa Spetsos is right now, though?”
Her flame guttered for a moment. “Why do you have such interest in her?”
He held up his hands. “No interest at all.” He could sense her suspicion, though, so he asked, “Will there be armed guards with the shipment?”
“Yes. About a hundred wolves in and atop the cars, along with a dozen aerial angel scouts above. All armed with rifles, handguns, and knives.”
Forested areas would be best for a strike, then, to avoid being seen by the malakim.
“Anything else?”
She angled her head. “None of this bothers you?”
“I’ve been in the Aux for a while. I’m used to coordinating shit.” Nothing like this, though. Nothing that put him firmly in the Asteri’s line of fire.
“That’s a stupid thing to reveal. Ophion must have been desperate, if they sent someone as untrained as you to deal with me.”
“Trust is a two-way street.” He gestured to the space between them.