Marcus's point of view

The residual anxiety from the emergency council meeting made the air in my office feel heavy. Long after the meeting had ended, I was still troubled by Jensen's carefully veiled deflection and Edith's arrogant silence. Even though I had exposed their ties to the rogues, I still felt uneasy about the council's dual allegiances.

Without really seeing the reports on my desk, I sat back in my chair and stared at them. I was being pulled in two separate directions by my restless impulses. A part of me wanted to tear through Edith's many layers of deception and reveal her to be the phony that she...