Braden looked out the window, watching the sunrise hit the city as they came in for a landing at Sea-Tac. They were too far from downtown Seattle to see the Space Needle, and he felt a moment’s regret that Nora wouldn’t be able to see it from the air. Then he looked over at her, eyes closed, face serene, and remembered that she wouldn’t want to talk about the Space Needle or anything else until he gave her the answers she deserved. Unfortunately they had one stop to make before he would be able to give them to her.

He didn’t blame her for being pissed, was half-surprised she’d come with him at all. Expecting anything else would be pushing his luck, and he vowed to tread softly, not push, until he could come clean.

“We’re landing, Mr. Kane.”

Braden nodded at the steward, then looked over at Nora, wishing he didn’t have to wake her.

“Nora.” Her eyes flew open, and he recognized the manic alertness, the instinctual cataloging of a situation that had been lost to you while asleep. It was one of many side effects of their career, and a pang of sadness hit him in the gut. He didn’t want her to be alert all the time. Didn’t want her hand to move to her weapon when she was still half-asleep. He wanted her to sleep soundly with nothing but peaceful dreams. Wanted her to wake up slowly and lazily, knowing she was safe. He hated himself for putting her in this situation. For validating all the things she’d trained to prepare for. “We’re landing.”

She straightened, buckled her seat belt, checked her phone. He watched as she turned to the window.

The plane dipped sharply as it came in for a landing, and Braden watched as the labyrinthine highways and strip malls became larger, the tarmac rising up to meet them as they approached the airport. They hit the runway with a slight bump and taxied toward a hangar in the distance, finally slowing to a stop.

The steward opened the door as the pilot emerged from the cockpit.

“I hope the flight was comfortable,” he said. He was pleasant but formidable looking, and Braden wondered if he was part of Locke’s team or a hired hand paid only to fly.

“It was fine, thank you,” Braden said.

The pilot held out one hand, a key dangling from a Buddha key chain. “Montgomery left this for you.”

Braden tried to hide his surprise as he took the keys. This was the kind of shit he expected from Nico and Farrell, even Christophe. The streets of the Syndicate had always run green with money, but never more so than under its new leadership. Private planes, luxury cars, safe houses all over the world — that was their MO It wasn’t his scene, but he understood the merit of it all. In the Syndicate, power was a weapon wielded to prevent greater power from being necessary, and that power was conveyed at all times in all sorts of ways.

Locke struck him as too enlightened to like the finer things. Even the house in La Jolla seemed a necessary trapping, a fortress from which Locke conducted illegal operations that were for the greater good. Now he wondered if he really understood Locke at all.

They deplaned with their bags to find a white BMW waiting nearby. Braden pushed the keyless entry and heard the doors unlock, then used the remote to open the trunk. He put their bags inside and slid into the driver’s seat. Nora was already buckled in next to him, her face turned to the window.

He hesitated, then reached across the console and took her hand from her lap. She didn’t resist, but she didn’t seem happy about it either.

“Look at me.” He sighed when she didn’t. “Look at me, Nora.”

She turned her head, her eyes as blue as the lightening sky in the window behind her.

“I know this is shitty, and I promise I’m going to tell you what’s going on, but until we get somewhere private, can we just… set this aside? You’re my best friend. I can’t stand to have you not talking to me.”

It was true. For all the distance he’d tried to maintain over the years, for all the feelings he’d kept close to the vest, there was no one at the Bureau he’d trusted more. He wanted to tell her everything. Wanted to let her in on all the secrets he’d been saving for the right time.

The right person.

And he wanted to know her secrets too. Wanted to know about the sister she never talked about, the sadness that crept into her eyes when Braden asked about her family, tried in vain to get her to tell him something that would make her less of a cipher to him. He only hoped he would get the chance.

“I can’t just pretend you haven’t been keeping something from me, Braden,” she finally said.

“I’m not asking you to do that. I’m just asking for a little civility. I know I don’t have a right, but we’re here, and we have a lot of ground to cover today.”

Her eyes flashed. “I wish you’d just told me back in L.A., because the things I’m imagining are making it hard to set aside.”

“What are you imagining? The short list.”

She chewed her lip, like she wasn’t sure she wanted to say any of it aloud now that she’d been given the go-ahead. “You were dirty at the Bureau.”

“I was never dirty at the Bureau,” he said. “Never. You have my word.”

“They’re putting you undercover. Deep cover. Making you resign…”

“I’m not undercover. No one made me resign. It was real for all the reasons I told you.”

A line formed on the bridge of her nose and he knew she was running down the remaining possibilities. “You’re doing some kind of private work that has you in trouble.”

He looked out the windshield, tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, debated the merit of giving her something to hang onto. Something to reassure her that he wasn’t a complete monster.

“I am doing some private work,” he admitted. “But that man back at my apartment wasn’t about that.”

“Illegal work?” she asked, her jaw tense.

“That’s where things get complicated,” he said.

She turned her face to the window. “So it is illegal.”

“It’s not that simple.” He ran a hand through his hair, fighting frustration. He hadn’t slept on the plane. He was tired and on edge. He needed a shower, coffee, food. “Look, I’m just asking you to give me a few hours. By tonight you’ll know everything.”

She met his eyes. “Promise?”

He held her gaze. “I promise.”

She gave a small nod.

He started the car, put it into gear. “We just have one quick stop to make first.”