“Is this line secure, Lieutenant?” Ambassador Goyle asked him.

“As secure as we’re going to get on a batarian world,” Anderson told her.

He was speaking to her via real-time video conference. Real-time communication from a colony in the Verge back to the Citadel was an incredibly complex and expensive process, but Anderson figured the Alliance could afford it.

“I met with Saren. Looks like he’s willing to let me tag along.”

There was a split second of lag as the signal was encrypted and packaged in a top-priority burst, then transmitted to a comm buoy orbiting Camala, and subsequently relayed across the extranet to the ambassador’s terminal on the Citadel before finally being decoded. The delay was barely noticeable, but it did cause a slight hitch in the ambassador’s image on his monitor.

“What else did he tell you, Lieutenant?” There was something gravely serious in the ambassador’s expression.

“Is something wrong, ma’am?”

She didn’t answer right away, choosing her words carefully. “As you know, we dispatched the Iwo Jima

to pick Sanders up yesterday. When they arrived, the ground team was under attack.” “What happened?” Anderson asked, already knowing the answer.

“The Iwo Jima went in to help, then dropped out of contact. By the time we convinced the local authorities to send out a rescue team to the sight, it was too late. The marines sent to accompany Sanders were all dead. The Iwo Jima was destroyed. Nobody aboard survived.”

“What about Lieutenant Sanders?” he asked, noticing the ambassador had left her conspicuously absent from the list of casualties.

“No sign of her. We think she may be a prisoner. Obviously we suspect Edan and Dr. Qian were behind the attack.”

“How’d they find out about the pickup?” Anderson demanded angrily.

“The request for clearance for the out-of-port landing was entered into Hatre’s main transport system data banks,” the ambassador told him. “Someone must have seen the information there and relayed it to Edan.”

“Who leaked it?” he wanted to know, remembering Kahlee’s fears that someone in the Alliance brass might be working with Qian.

“There’s no way to know. We can’t even be sure it was intentional. It might have been an accident. A

mistake.”

“With all due respect, ma’am, we both know that’s a load of crap.”

“This doesn’t change your mission, Lieutenant,” she warned him. “You’re still going after Qian.” “What about Lieutenant Sanders?”

The ambassador sighed. “We believe she’s still alive. Hopefully, if you find Qian, you’ll find her.”

“Anything else, ma’am?” he asked, a little more curtly than he’d intended. He was still shaken by the news that someone had betrayed Kahlee again. And while he didn’t suspect the ambassador, she had made all the arrangements for the pickup. He couldn’t help blaming her at least a little for allowing this to happen.

“Saren’s going to be evaluating you on this mission,” the ambassador reminded him, shrewdly refocusing him back to his true priorities. “Do well and it could go a long way to proving to the Council that humanity deserves to have someone in the Spectre ranks.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you what that could mean for the Alliance,” she added.

“Understood, Ambassador,” he replied, subdued. He knew she was right; he had to put his personal feelings aside for the sake of the mission.

“We’re all counting on you, Lieutenant,” she added just before signing off. “Don’t let us down.”

Saren wasn’t late for their second meeting. In fact, he was already there, waiting at the same table when

Anderson arrived. The bar was busier in the evening, but it was still far from crowded.

The lieutenant marched toward the turian and sat down across from him. He didn’t waste any time with

a greeting, but simply blurted out, “Did you see any sign of Kahlee Sanders when you were scouting out

Edan’s hiding place?”

“She is no longer a concern of mine,” Saren told him. “Or yours. Stay focused on Edan and Qian.” “That’s not an answer,” Anderson pressed. “Did you see her or not?”

“I’m not going to let one human life get in the way of this mission!” Saren hissed at him. Something in his tone flipped a switch in the lieutenant’s brain; the light came on and he suddenly understood.

“You’re the one who leaked the pickup! That’s how you found Edan. You used Kahlee as bait, then followed his people back to the refinery and scouted it out last night. That’s why you were late this morning!”

“It was the only way!” Saren fired back. “It would’ve taken months to find Edan. Months we might not have! I don’t have to explain myself to you. I saw an opportunity, so I took it!”

“You son of a bitch!” Anderson shouted, leaping across the table to grab him by the throat. But the turian was too quick for him. He jumped back beyond Anderson’s grasp, then leaped in and seized Anderson’s outstretched arms by the wrists, yanking him off balance.

As the lieutenant tumbled forward, Saren let go of one wrist and twisted hard on the other one, bending Anderson’s arm up and behind his back. The turian used the human’s own momentum against him to slam him to the ground. Still keeping Anderson’s arm bent behind him, the turian dropped his knee between the lieutenant’s shoulders, pinning him to the floor.

Anderson struggled for a few seconds, but he couldn’t get free. He felt Saren applying pressure to his arm, and he went still before the turian decided to break it. The rest of the people in the bar had jumped up from their seats when the action started, but once they saw that the human was effectively helpless, they simply sat back down and resumed drinking.

“This is what it means to be a Spectre,” Saren whispered, still atop him. He had leaned in so close that Anderson felt his hot breath in his ear and on the back of his neck. “Sacrificing one life for the sake of millions. Qian’s research is a threat to every species in Citadel space. I saw a chance to stop him at the cost of a few dozen lives. The math is simple, human… but few people are able to do it right.”

“I get it,” Anderson said, trying to keep his voice calm. “So let me up.”

“Try this again and I will kill you,” the Spectre warned before releasing him. Anderson had no doubt he meant it. Besides, fighting with Saren in this bar didn’t accomplish anything. If he really wanted to help Kahlee he had to be smart instead of impulsive.

He stood up and stared at the turian for a long moment. Despite being immobilized, the only thing hurting was his pride. So Anderson simply brushed himself off, then went and sat down at the table again. Realizing the human intended to hold his anger in check, the turian joined him.

“They didn’t find Kahlee’s body at the scene,” Anderson said, resuming the conversation where they had left off. He’d need to come up with a plan to help Kahlee, but he didn’t even know where she was being held. As much as it galled him, he needed to get the turian back on his side. “Were you there? Did you see what happened?”

“Your ground team was attacked by Skarr and the Blue Sun mercenaries,” Saren told him. “When all hope was lost your soldiers tried to surrender, but the Blue Suns gunned them down.”

“What about Kahlee? Is she still alive?”

“She was,” Saren admitted. “They took her inside the refinery. I assume they must need her for some purpose.”

“If they know we’re coming, they might still kill her,” Anderson said. “That means nothing to me.”

It took every ounce of military discipline the lieutenant had not to attempt to attack him again, but somehow he managed to stay in his seat.

“She means something to me,” he said, straining to keep his voice even. “I want to make you a deal.” The turian shrugged, a truly universal gesture of indifference. “What kind of deal?”