Adam shifted smoothly into form eight of his twenty-four form Tai-Chi routine when Ella entered the training facility from the woman’s locker room. She sidled up to him and slipped easily into the next Tai-Chis stage as he did. They ended the twenty-four forms in the first position and immediately restarted. As they completed the second pass, Ella raised an eyebrow. Guessing her question, Adam answered, “One more.”

Ella nodded once.

When they came to a stop, Ella spoke, “Cooling down or warming up?”

“Cooling.”

“Too bad.”

“Why?” Adam asked.

Ella grinned in lieu of an answer, and Adam was moving before his conscious mind identified Ella’s attack. Adam smiled as he danced backward.

They circled each other slowly. Adam’s thoughts swirled with fond memories as he fought Ella. In the past, she rarely caught him off guard with any of her moves, but she’d been younger then and he wondered how much she’d learned since their last formal sparring session.

Lightning fast, she dropped her weight low and swept her leg toward his knee. Adam blithely hopped over it, but as he came down, Ella was there with a fist to his gut. He stepped to the side, left hand swinging down, knocking her hand away. Adam followed the block with a punch of his own. He checked the force as he caught Ella in the chin. Her head whipped to the side and she rubbed her jaw, smiling. “Ow.”

Adam dropped his weight into his knees. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Ella replied, mimicking his stance.

As they eyed each other warily, Adam asked, “Are you here as a friend or on orders?”

“Both,” she said, feigning a punch followed by a roundhouse kick which caught Adam in the hip before he could prance out of the way. “Lokhagos Parker called.”

Adam sighed. If his acting Lokhagos from St. Louis had spoken with Ella, then that meant Adam’s formal summons and subsequent trial was imminent.

“Darius has been sent for.”

Shifting his weight from side to side, Adam waited for an opening in Ella’s guard. “When is he due in Istanbul?”

“Next week. You received your formal summon yet?”

“No,” Adam replied, shaking his head, and blocking Ella’s uppercut. “but Antipolemarchos Valis has reached out to me though.” Ella frowned. “Polite as ever,” Adam volunteered. His sent a kick to Ella’s stomach but missed. “He still wants me to take his place, but after what happened...” He trailed off as he dodged a series of punches.

“After Lee’s death, you mean?”

Adam nodded and then ducked. “I didn’t—don’t—want the responsibility,” he said, landing a strike to Ella’s stomach. She absorbed the energy from his arm and spun out of the way. “It’s one thing to learn about some colleagues dying. I can do something about that—but when you’re in charge and something goes wrong...” He paused before continuing, “I didn’t fail the others,” Adam said, referencing the recently deceased London Hashashin force, “but I failed Lee.”

Ella nodded in understanding. She would know, Adam thought, now that she was the Western Europe Lokhagos and in charge of the Hashashin posted in the region. Adam sent a kick to her knees, which Ella evaded with a hop and a roll. As she came to her feet, she said, “It’s a lot of responsibility. At the same time, you can’t stay a Hashashin your whole life.”

“Why not? It worked for my father.” At least it did until his death, Adam added silently.

“Only because Antipolemarchos Valis accepted the responsibility in his stead. You know your father was a contender for the position.”

And perhaps, if Saif Haddad had accepted the position, he would still be alive right now. Adam shook his head. He would never know.

“Antipolemarchos Valis is going to push hard for you to take on more responsibilities,” Ella continued, her fist connected with Adam’s chin and his head whipped to the side. “You know he wants to step down within the next five to ten years and he’ll want you ready to take over. It’s a high honor.” Ella smiled at him, impish, “I’m not sure I could give you the proper respect, though. Too much history between us. Besides, Antipolemarchos Black sounds so... odd coming out of my mouth.”

Knowing Antipolemarchos Valis had handpicked Adam as his successor had caused more than a few fights between Isaac and himself. Adam had never aspired so high, content in his current role, whereas Isaac, his older brother, and Stratigos of Western Europe, continued to push himself toward his next promotion with every breath he took. But, now that the Antipolemarchos role was out of his reach, well, it rankled Isaac, not that Adam minded too much. Tweaking his brother was too much fun.

“It still has a nicer ring to it than Antipolemarchos Haddad,” Adam added with a smile, remembering his and Isaac’s last fight about the promotion.

Ella chuckled. “I never understood why you go by Black. Haddad’s your true surname after all.”

Adam shrugged, not answering. Some things he preferred to keep even from friends like Ella.

Ella shook her head and sighed. “Do you still feel like the position is wrong for you?”

Boy, did he ever. “Yes and no,” he replied, falling into a roll to avoid Ella’s high kick. He lunged to the side, to avoid her stomp, before standing. “If you had asked me this past spring, I would have declined the position it in a heartbeat. But now... Now that Rachel is here, the thought of living in Istanbul, with all the security surrounding the Fortress… Well, it has a certain appeal.” Adam ducked her roundhouse and returned swinging. Ella blocked him, but the force of the blow shook his bones and had to have hurt her. Nope, that wouldn’t do. Adam straightened and pulled a respectful final spar posture.

“Did you ask her what she would want?” Ella inquired, raising an eyebrow as she lowered her guard and returned the final gesture.

“I’d planned to, but now she’s in isolation and I can’t even talk to her. And then, I don’t know how she might react. She never...” He trailed off.

“Chose to be recruited?”

“Yes.”

“I must admit, Adam, I never expected you to fall for anyone, let alone a civilian. I guess, if anything, I thought you would end up going for an arranged lineage match once the timing was right.”

Adam didn’t have anything to add, so he shrugged and wandered over to his water bottle resting on his towel at the wall. He sat. “What can I say? She’s nice, friendly, and stubborn enough to put up with my shit.”

Ella snorted and joined him. “She seemed to be adjusting well to the Order. Well, at least until the isolation part. Now, she’s not eating and is sleeping all day, but that’s only to be expected. Isolation is mind-numbingly boring. I’ve been talking to Isaac about getting her some form of entertainment. He’s being obstinate.”

“You have?”

Ella wiped her face as she gave Adam an affirmative grunt.

“It’s good to hear that someone else is on her side,” Adam said and ran a towel through his sweaty hair. “I fear he wouldn’t be so callous with anyone else in the Order. I’d like to believe he is above doing this to her out of spite for me, but...”

“No,” Ella countered. “Not spite. Never spite. I think it has more to do with his ‘trusting’ nature than who she’s attracted to.” Ella sipped from her water bottle. “Cheer up” she continued. “Dr. Campbell and Jack signed off on her ‘programming’ already. So now, we only need to wait for Isaac to relent.” Ella paused and nudged Adam’s shoulder with her own, “Anyway, enough with the friend part.”

Adam watched her out of the corner of his eye. “You going to hit me again?”

Ella snorted. “No. I’m pulling you from the current Prescott operation for a side mission. Official word is you’re to destroy the coffee shop where Grace was murdered and to remove Kepa Moreno. His current location is in Santander, Spain.”

“On the coast?” Adam clarified, his eyebrows rising in appreciation. “Guess the coffee shop is more profitable than we realized.” Adam’s grin turned feral. “Not for long though.” It would take Adam two days, three tops, and then he would be back in England.

Ella laughed. “That’s the Adam I remember. You love trouble.” Turning more serious, she added, “Parker also told me there is talk of assigning you to a new Lokhagos.”

Adam looked at her sharply. Reassigned?

“The probability is high the Org will be after you again. Prescott may have failed this time, but that doesn’t mean Councilor Ridley, or someone else trying to make a name for themselves, won’t attempt another strike against you.” When Adam continued to keep silent, Ella added, “All I am saying is, think about where you want to go next. Fast track for Antipolemarchos or something else.”

And with that Ella stood and left the room.