"Dregs."
The word left the old woman's mouth like a curse, her voice rasping with disdain, materializing on the 8th underground floor of a C.I.B. branch headquarters.
She stood there, her wrinkled, sagging skin practically hanging off her bones, looking as if she had one foot in the grave. Her gaze swept across the floor, locking onto the curse users, who were regrouping into two around her.
Then, she turned to the group that had summoned her and scowled, "You had one job. Everything was laid out for you, yet you still failed." Her voice dripped with disappointment before it twisted into cold fury. "I don't care that you failed. But how dare you expose my new identity? Do you have any idea how much we had to sacrifice to her?"
A sharp intake of breath echoed from the agents as they recognized the identity of the old woman.
"Madam Director?" Matthew's voice barely came out, her tone laced with horror.