Free One Breath, One Bullet(The Borders War book 1) by S. A. McAuley

preferring the excruciating process of transport over residing in one of the military strongholds, because of his distaste for urban areas. Or maybe it was the people. Either way, from what I knew, Armise Darcan didn’t come to the island often.
    Which meant there was only one reason why Armise was here. In this warehouse. Now.
    The infochip.
    I didn’t bother to ask the Dark Ops officer if he was alone. The chances were slim that he would have any backup with him. Dark Ops officers rarely worked with a partner and Armise was revered, feared, for consistently operating solo. I hoped that in this case our intel was correct. Because the team had to get Jegs out and I had to take care of Armise. And fighting through additional forces to accomplish both those mission critical tasks would be difficult. And a waste of time.
    I hated to be annoyed like that.
    “Take her,” I ordered Simion as I stood, my sonicrifle never straying off Armise.
    Simion lowered his gun and walked over to us. “And then?” he asked as he stepped up next to me.
    “I need you all out of here,” I answered in a low voice so Armise couldn’t overhear. “Let me take care of Armise.”
    Simion gave a clipped nod and motioned for someone else from the team to help him carry Jegs out.
    Neither Armise nor I moved as they worked.
    When they were out of the warehouse, only minutes later, we remained on opposite sides of the building, a track of blood droplets trailing between us, the ancient lanterns throwing shadows across his face.
    This was Armise’s territory. His homeland. And that could inspire a false sense of confidence I could use to my advantage.
    “So do you have it?” he finally ventured, shattering the silence.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied.
    Armise took one step closer to me. I held my ground. His hands were still raised, palms facing me, in a signal of surrender.
    “I remember you,” Armise said as he tipped his chin up in my direction.
    “If only you were that memorable,” I quipped, drawing a smirk from him.
    As he tentatively took another step towards me I noted the splatter of blood on his neck and chest. Jegs’ blood I had to assume. Fury slammed through me.
    “Any chance that if I shoot you I’m going to find what I’m looking for on you?” I speculated.
    Armise shook his head. “Not the slightest.”
    I didn’t know why I believed him. There was absolutely no reason I should have. But something kept me from just pulling the trigger. “So why are you here then?”
    Armise shrugged. He kept his hands up as he edged closer to me. “The mission. It’s always about the mission, right?”
    “You trying to say we are brothers in arms, huh?” I scoffed. “You’re going for that approach?”
    Armise was undeterred. “We each have our orders. In this case, they’re the same.”
    I raised my pierced eyebrow. “You’re here to rescue a Peacemaker? That’s a plot twist.”
    “You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
    “The infochip,” I admitted. It wasn’t a secret that the five countries had been searching for the chip for the last decade. Why try to verbally manoeuvre around a subject both of us were aware of?
    Armise’s lip tipped up at my admission. “It seems our governments both have a vested interest in getting that useless chip in their hands. If it even exists.”
    If his words had been said to elicit a reaction from me, then they had worked. “Useless?” I found myself asking him without consciously framing my intentions before I spoke out loud. The other side of his mouth twitched, full lips tugging into a slow smile at my misstep. I continued, “Interesting choice of words. Care to enlighten me?”
    “That chip is a fool’s journey. The Holy Grail of our time. But the solution is never that easy.”
    I sneered. “Says the man also risking his life to get his hands on it.”
    “I just do what I’m told.”
    “Even if it means your life?”
    “Makes it all