Quick note: for those of you not aware, I recently tested a new chapter from Ethan's POV and since people seemed to enjoy it, here's another from James'! It may be a bit confusing so please let me know your honest thoughts on it.

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"Tell me again."

James groaned. "I've told you the same thing twenty-seven times already. And yes, I counted. How has your brain not imploded yet?" His was about to. He rubbed his throbbing forehead with a grimace.

The man across from him shrugged. "You've talked my ear off too many times for this to have an effect."

James rolled his eyes. "Hayes, believe it or not I'm actually getting sick of my own voice. And you know I love that sound." Not only was he sick of his voice, but he was sick of the four white walls around him, the long table he'd been tapping his fingers against for hours, and most of all, the constant questions from his mentor. His briefings normally ran for twenty minutes tops. Why so long this time?

Hayes' dark eyes narrowed. "One last time, Henderson."

Sighing, James lifted his head from his crossed arms on the table. "There haven't been any developments," he repeated for what felt like the billionth time. "There aren't any issues - at least none that anyone's reporting.  It's just Ashley." The mention of Ashley's name twisted his stomach into knots and he shifted in his seat, trying to ignore it. 

As Hayes scribbled a line of notes on his already full page, his gaze flickered from the wall behind James to the paper and back again. Why did he keep doing that? 

"And your father?" Hayes asked. 

James brought his attention back to their conversation. "Nothing out of the ordinary. The last supply mission to the outside came back with a lot of restricted products, so my father's been distributing it to the lucky few ever since."

"What kind of products?"

"The usual," James murmured, avoiding Hayes' glance. He hated talking about his father. 

Hayes dropped his pen onto the table with a clatter and crossed his arms over his chest. "I know you hate talking about him but I need to know exactly what he had and who he gave it to. It's my job."

James looked up, jutting his chin out defensively. "So what? You suddenly forgot what the usual refers to?"

"Henderson." Hayes pressed his lips together. "We both have jobs to do," he said in a steady voice, but James wasn't fooled - his mentor was rapidly losing patience with him. "Let me do mine."

Unable to avoid Hayes' gaze any longer, James looked up, curling his hands into tight fists under the table. "I couldn't find any names, he's not stupid enough to leave a paper trail, but I'm guessing most of the government are involved. Practically anyone without a bracelet."

"Anything specific stand out to you in his office?"

His fists were no longer enough to keep him calm, to keep hold of himself. He dug them into his thighs. "Other than the half empty bottle of piss? No, nothing."

"And you're sure they have no idea where Ashley is?"

How many times was Hayes going to ask this? How many times was he going to have his missing sister shoved into his face? "They have no idea where she is," he said, exhaling sharply. "I don't think they even looked for her." Surprise, surprise.

James jumped at a loud bang, his head jerking toward the noise. It had come from the wall beside them - or rather, what looked like a wall. The single press of a button would make the window and space beyond visible. The remote was hanging on the wall behind Hayes. 

"What's happening out there?" There had been a lot of people in the foyer when he arrived - far more than usual, and with the way Hayes had been watching the wall, he knew that something had to be going on.

Hayes frowned, creating deep cracks in his umber skin. "No clue," he said quickly. "So what else did they bring in from the outside, anything else of interest?"

Brows raised, James looked between his mentor and the window, listening for any other odd noises. All that could be heard was a faint electrical hum. "Not that I know of."

Hayes wrote feverishly and once again glanced up at the wall. "Good, good."

James was done waiting - something was going on, and it was clear that Hayes wasn't going to let him in on it. James jumped up while Hayes wrote and darted around the far side of the table. Hayes made a grab for him but missed, and James made it to the remote before his mentor could do more than stand up. James pressed the button. 

In an instant the wall of white became transparent. The concrete tomb on the other side was filled to the brim with people, their bodies pressed so tightly together they were squashed against the glass. James had never seen the foyer so packed, never seen so many of his kind gathered in one place - that could mean nothing good. 

James' eyes narrowed as he spun to face Hayes, his breaths coming quick. "You want to enlighten me? Why is our entire population in a meeting and we aren't?"

Hayes' eyes darted between the door and James. "Sit down, Henderson. If you were meant to be there you would be."

"Why aren't we in it?" James repeated, stepping forward until he stood over Hayes.

His mentor dropped the clipboard on the table with a clatter and a sigh of exasperation. "Classified business."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" James exclaimed, grabbing and pulling chunks of hair to contain his frustration. It stung, but the pain helped him calm down, the pain helped him control himself.

As James stepped closer to the door, Hayes followed, his long legs quickly catching up. "Exactly what you think it does. If you were supposed to hear what they're talking about, you would be in there."

Frowning, James turned the door handle but froze under the weight of Hayes' hand on his arm.

Voice low and steady, Hayes said, "I'm telling you, whatever they're saying, you don't want to hear. It'll only make things worse."

James' chest tightened. He knew that tone of voice - it was the same one Hayes had used to tell James about Ashley. Nothing good was happening on the other side of that door.

"Is it... " James stopped to take a shallow breath that wasn't enough for his lungs. His heart leapt to his throat. "Is it about Ashley?" The ensuing silence gave James his answer. He ripped his arm from his mentor's grasp. "After everything I've done for them, I'm a part of this just as much as they are, even more if it's about my sister. Whether she's dead, alive or just gone, I deserve to hear it; she's my family."

James slammed the door shut behind him. In an instant people surrounded him on all sides.  Heart racing, he slipped into the crowd, staying at the back so that he wouldn't be seen. He fixed his eyes on the man speaking. The Commander. James would know those icy blue eyes anywhere; as they flickered to him and away again, his stomach dropped to his knees. Hayes was right, James didn't want to hear what the Commander was about to say - but he needed to. 

The Commander motioned for silence to fall. "Ashley Henderson was assigned an important mission, far more important than anything else we've done in our 400 years." The Commander paced the length of the circular desk in the centre of the space, his eyes resting on each face as he spoke. "She failed."

The crowd rose in volume like a swarm of insects, tittering so loud James could barely think. A hand unconsciously rose to chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt tightly between his fingers.

"We received intel that Ashley Henderson was caught by Enforcers before she could reach her destination. She is now being held in a top security prison in the Control Centre. But she isn't empty-handed. She has proof, proof of what we've been saying all along."

The room erupted in a chorus of cheers that burned his ears, but James was unable to move, to think, to breathe. If it weren't for the wall behind him James would be on the ground. As his fingers latched onto the window ledge, his breath caught in his throat, mind attempting to process the words.

"Ashley is alive," James whispered, his voice drowned out by the crowd. As soon as he said it aloud his brain clicked into gear, and it took all of his common sense not to run to the Control Centre right then. He couldn't hide the grin on his face even if he wanted to.

"Our top priority now is to rescue that proof from the Control Centre. However, first I must remind you all of our utmost law: death before betrayal." The Commander didn't have to sound threatening to scare people; somehow, his calm demeanor was more terrifying. But it was his words that sent James' heart plummeting to his knees. "Ashley Henderson is well-liked, a good soldier. But she knew the consequences of failing her mission. If we are unable to rescue them soon, she will kill herself before she has a chance to betray us. She will not give away our secrets, not even in her dying breath. That is our way."

Nods of assent surrounded him on all sides. James' smile disappeared as quickly as it formed. Ashley, his only sister, his only real family... forced to kill herself? He'd been taught that law since a young age but never had he thought about it actually being enforced. James grinded his teeth until it was painful, the only action he could think of to stop himself from responding and getting himself killed too.

"If anyone tries to prevent this, they will be punished. Severely."

James thought, just for a second, the Commander's eyes fell on him. And for good reason. If he were him, he would look to James too. Because his first thought after the Commander's words was treasonous. Ashley was not some animal they could use as a distraction. She volunteered for a mission she knew would be difficult, but she said she wouldn't let it kill her - she promised him it wouldn't. And he promised he would do everything he could to save her if it did. Even if it meant betraying their people, he would do it.

He would do anything to save his sister.

— author's note —

Hey! So I know this chapter is probably confusing (and maybe a little intriguing, hopefully). Please let me know what you thought and how I can make it easier to understand.

Thanks again for reading!