“I know.”
“I never liked the sound of those damn rifles much myself. The commander hates it worse than me. She’s probably on the roof, hunting, just like when she was on the front lines.”
Lila chewed on her cookie. “Never understood why she joined the military. She’s a highborn.”
“Did you ask her?”
“Yes, during my first week on patrol. She told me she wanted an adventure.”
“Adventure my ass. She went because of her mother.”
“Ms. Edith Randolph? What does she have to do with—”
“I meant her biological mother.”
Lila frowned. “The woman died when Commander Sutton was a baby. That’s how she became a Randolph.”
“Yes, and she has no memory of her. Joining the military and becoming a sniper? It was the only way she could get to know her mother.”
“By getting killed in action, too?”
“By following in her footsteps.” Jenkins brushed crumbs from his lap and stared at the door.
Lila did the same. She perched on her desk again, boots still swinging back and forth.
The pair waited.
No sounds came from outside the building.
No sounds came from Jenkins’s office.
No sounds came from Lila’s as well. They might have been aboard an elevator, awkwardly avoiding eye contact and small talk.
The minutes stretched on.
Jenkins heard it before Lila. The elevator dinged from far away. One pair of boots stalked across the wooden floor in the next room.
Lila cocked her ear, listening for conversation.
She heard none.
She hopped from the desk, planted her feet, and raised her tranq.
Jenkins raised his gun too.
They listened for a voice and the password that all militia should use in such a situation.
Neither came.
The doorknob turned.
Chapter 16
A blast ripped through Lila’s door. Splinters and sawdust burst from the hole. The smell of gunpowder wafted across the room.
Two more shots followed.
Something soft and large thunked against the wall beside the door.