Thank you for the update regarding Project 223590. We understand your concerns. However, the organization is pleased with the behavior of the vessel in question. Your suggestion to modify the subject’s future programming has been denied. Continue development as normal. If necessary, modify techniques to better fit the subject’s behavior. We appreciate your concern, and we will be happy to send help if you feel it is required.

Irvin Hawkins, Chief of Project Management

My stomach turned. Continue development as normal. Talon didn’t want the vessels to change. Perhaps they didn’t understand the dragon’s complete roboticness...but maybe they did. Maybe that was what they’d been going for all along. Dragons that wouldn’t question orders, that would blindly do whatever they were told, even at the expense of their own lives.

A chill went through me and I shook it off. I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t my decision, not anymore. The organization had spoken. I was certainly not going inform them that I needed help on this project; such an admittance would weaken their trust and label me as incompetent. So be it. If Talon wanted mindless soldiers, I would give them mindless soldiers.

Even if I had to sell my soul to do it.

GARRET

“Garret.”

Tristan’s voice was stony, his eyes hard as we stared at each other over the barrel of the M4. One hand rested on his rifle, the other crept toward the sidearm at his thigh. I raised my weapon, narrowing my eyes.

“Don’t.”

The hand froze. Tristan glared at me, icy contempt written across his face, but he dropped his arm. My insides were a conflicted mess, the past warring with what I knew I had to do, but I kept my arm steady, the gun barrel aimed at center mass. At this close range, Tristan’s body armor would not protect him. One shot and it would be over.

“I should’ve known we would find you here,” Tristan said, his voice pitched low. “The commander said these could be the same lizards that broke into the chapterhouse that night to free you. Returning the favor, partner?” He shook his head, not bothering to hide his disgust. “You really have switched sides, haven’t you? Working with the enemy now, Garret? Killing your former brothers to save them?”

“The Order didn’t give me much choice, did they?” My voice came out flat, cold. “After everything I did, after all the years I gave them, followed commands, risked my life without a second thought, they would have shot me down for showing mercy to an enemy.”

“To a dragon!” Tristan’s lip curled at the name. “To a soulless lizard, who turned you against everything you once believed in. We don’t show mercy to dragons, Garret, you know that! They don’t deserve mercy, or understanding, or compassion because they’re not capable of it.”

“And what if they are?” I asked softly. “What if everything we thought we knew about dragons was a lie? What if they are capable of mercy, and compassion, and humanity? Where would the Order be then? How would St. George justify their actions, centuries of slaughter and blood and death, if they knew not all dragons are soulless monsters?”

“Listen to yourself,” Tristan returned, his expression now caught between disgust and pity. “You sound like one of their slaves, someone they’ve manipulated so thoroughly you don’t know what’s real anymore.” He paused, as if weighing his next words, before adding, “And I think your feelings for that girl are making you see things that aren’t there. You always believed in what we did, until she came along.” His voice hardened. “She’s a dragon, Garret. A monster. You’re only fooling yourself if you think otherwise.”

I ignored that brief stab to the heart, knowing this was useless. Tristan’s beliefs would never waver. He was a soldier of St. George; his convictions were ironclad. I knew, because I had thought the same. And there was no time to stand here and argue with my ex-partner. Jade was waiting for my signal, and Ember and Riley were trapped in the building with the soldiers closing in. Maybe it was already too late. Much as I wanted to talk to Tristan, to explain everything I had learned, I had to move on.

Raising the M4, I met Tristan’s steely gaze. “Turn around,” I ordered, and his eyes went dark.

“Are you going to shoot me now, partner?” he asked softly. “To save the lizards? What’s the matter, can’t look me in the eye when you pull the trigger?”

I kept my face blank, my voice cold, as I answered. “Now.”

Tristan eyed me a moment longer, then spun on his knees and faced the wall. Keeping the gun raised, I walked carefully forward until I stood just a few feet away, the barrel hovering a few inches from the back of his skull.