Chapter 44

I’m getting an itch at the back of my neck. Something’s up at the apartment. Let’s double our usual patrols in the area.

—Message from Yakov Stepyrev to Zahaan Saarinen (4 September 2083)

THE WATCHER STARED up at the window of the apartment where Theo Marshall was yet awake. The blinds had been lowered, so the Watcher couldn’t see anything, but the lights were still on—and that bear was still with her.

The Watcher had thought that the bear must be staying in an adjacent apartment, but none of the other lights had come on since they went inside. Either they were planning strategy for tomorrow—or Theo was the latest Psy to fall for a bear.

The Watcher snorted. “Bears have better taste than to go for a Marshall.” No, it had to be a strategy meeting.

Regardless, the Watcher couldn’t get to her so long as she was in that apartment. StoneWater security was beyond even the Watcher’s abilities. “She’ll be alone sooner or later,” the Watcher said under their breath, speaking to the person inside their mind that was their other self, the one from before. “I just have to be patient a little longer.”