K A N E

Under our feet, the boat lurched as it crashed over a particularly large swell. I stood in the back, unbothered. I looked to the horizon, where the ocean wrapped around the world under a cloudless blue sky. There wasn't a sign of land for miles.

Arlo stood at the front of the boat, watching the horizon for the Imperium ship with his sharp gaze. His stormy eyes were wild with the prospect of our upcoming heist.

Then my eyes dropped to our vehicle—a fast little boat designed to be virtually undetected under radar. It had been hard to get, as these were the types of boats criminals tended to use. But under the power of Vladlena Tesla's monetary support, we'd been able to get both the boat and a captain that would keep his mouth shut.

And if he was planning not to...well, my brother could read thoughts. We'd deal with him if the need came.

I shouldered the weapon Jaxon made me. This would be the first time I'd be using it in an actual fight. Hopefully, we'd be able to get in and out with the engineer quickly; the ONNT was sure to be hot on the Imperium boat's wake as we were. It would be bad if there was a bigger fight than expected once we infiltrated the boat, but the ONNT catching us would be worse.

"You really are as pessimistic as they say." I looked up to see my brother watching me amusedly.

I scowled, knowing he'd seen inside my mind. "Who said that?"

"Them." He gestured to our whole group. "Your friends. All the time."

Suddenly, I thought I felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. "Stop reading my thoughts."

"No."

"Maybe we should have let you rot away with Krasowski." I didn't have to see Jaxon to know he was fervently agreeing with me.

He made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Shouldn't say that, brother. Imagine if I die in this upcoming fight. You'll be beside yourself with grief if those were your last words to me."

Holding his gaze, I said in a low voice, "I never say things without thinking."

Instead of getting offended, he simply turned to Riley, who was watching our argument with a growing smirk. "You wanted siblings growing up, Traversa. Still want them, after you've watched my dear brother and me?"

I wasn't sure if he'd been reading her thoughts just now or if he knew that from before. The thought that he knew the darkest, most integral parts of her irritated me even more. I had been happy to wait for her to tell me the bare minimum about herself and my brother forcibly took that information from her without debating whether he should or not.

I wasn't even surprised in the slightest when she commented back, "Not if they're like you." Her sharp smile didn't falter.

Holding back a sudden smile, I watched for my brother's reaction. He blinked once before the mocking smirk slid back into place. She'd jarred him with that comment, if even for a second.

"They're not all like him," Delphinium spoke suddenly from Riley's side. "Some are good. Kind." Benton sneered, but I couldn't tell if he was actually affected by our judgement of his character. I never could.

When Delphinium's fingers went absentmindedly to the rings around her throat, I remembered she'd had a brother; pictures of him were in her grandmother's home. But it was very rare of her to offer up a piece of information about herself like this—usually, she hid it away like I did. I hoped Riley would know not to push it.

As it panned out, she didn't have time to. Arlo turned to face us, dark hair spiked down with sea water. "Imperium's ship is at twelve o'clock."

Turning away from the girls, I looked straight ahead; sure enough, there was a dark smudge on the horizon. Gauging from the distance between the two boats, we'd be there in mere minutes.

He turned back. "There are guns on the sides. Two large ones." A second passed. "They're moving away from us. As long as we're following behind, we have a smaller chance of being found—and being blown out of the water."

Waves splashed against the boat as we went faster and faster, the captain aiming for the figure ahead that was now becoming more clear to my normal eyesight. The closer we got, the more pronounced the two massive guns on either side of the ship became. I couldn't tell if they were manned or not.

No one was above deck on the significantly larger ship to watch as we pulled up alongside it. Thankfully, there were rungs welded to the side of the hull as a sort of ladder that we'd use to sneak onboard.

Jaxon went first. Arm over arm, he climbed, the metal of his left fingers ringing lightly against the steel grips. I followed him, slinging the spears over my back. The climb was an easy one, especially for me. When I looked out to the ocean, an expanse of water was shining back, reflecting the sunlight from directly overhead.

The top of the boat was empty, as expected. They weren't expecting to have any visitors; I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried about it.

"This way," Arlo beckoned once everyone was aboard. No one had to ask how he knew which way to go.

I dropped to the deck on silent feet. Now that we were on the same level the soldiers would be on, we had to be even more cautious. Holding as still as death, I waited to hear any approaching footsteps.

There was a split second of still quiet before I whirled and stabbed two soldiers coming around the corner with each side of my spears. A flick of my wrists and the bodies were falling over the edge of the boat to the calm sea below. Arlo watched the entire thing without expression and then gave me a slow nod of respect.

As we followed him across the deck, the only sounds were of the ocean and the gulls overhead. Arlo made a sharp turn, leading us head-on to a closed door. Without a moment of doubt, he opened it and slid through like a bloodhound on a scent. Jaxon and I exchanged a look before we followed behind.

The hallway was empty, as far as we could see. Unfortunately, it was small and full of sharp turns, meaning that we wouldn't have much information about what lay far before us. It was also low enough for my head to nearly touch the ceiling. I had to duck as we went through doorways.

I whipped around when I heard sudden movement behind our group, but my brother beat me to the attack. A flash of metal and the soldier was no more. Delphinium didn't even move as a closet door was opened for Benny to shove the body into; we had to be undetected for as long as possible.

Arlo took another sharp turn. My fingers tightened around my drawn weapons, ready for anything. My gaze locked onto the two soldiers standing at attention before a doorway. They didn't even have time to see us approaching before Jake pierced their chests with two icicles striking through the air.

Unbothered, I stepped over the dead bodies and into the room they'd been guarding. As we'd expected, there was a dark-haired woman inside, standing with her back to us as she stared out of a small window. Arden Rong.

She turned as soon as she heard us. "Who are you?" Narrowed black eyes roved over our group. I couldn't read what was in their depths.

"We're going to break you out of here," Jaxon told her, stepping closer. When she didn't move, he asked, "Don't you want to escape from Imperium?"

"What is there to escape from?" There was no fear, no concern in her voice. Only certainty.

With a cold, heavy feeling settling in my stomach, it then occurred to me that perhaps Imperium hadn't forced her here against her will. In fact, she wasn't bound or gagged like their other prisoners often were.

The others seemed to realize this as well. There was a silence as Jake held his gun out toward her tan face. "You're coming with us."

Her eyes dropped to the gun, thin eyebrows raised. She was much calmer than she should have been under these circumstances. However, I didn't miss how she didn't move under Jake's weapon—whichever side she was on, she was still motivated by his threat of violence.

"Move," Jaxon hissed to her, "We're leaving."

Then, she did come forward. Jaxon, Arlo and the others led the way out, while Jake and I brought up the rear, the former still holding his gun straight at Rong as I kept a tight grip on her arm.

We hurried through the hallways, following Arlo, as he appeared to know the way out of this maze of box-like corridors. Rong didn't fight us, didn't even wear an expression. I didn't like not being able to tell what she was thinking. Or planning.

Arlo gave another abrupt stop. The light from the exit was blocked as a group of men stepped into our path. "We thought you might try to steal Ms. Rong from us," the first soldier said. An ambush. They'd known we'd be here all along. I'd known things had seemed too easy.

I took in the growing group that had formed to stop us, the machine guns several soldiers held. They outnumbered us, but were we overpowered?

Beside me, Delphinium was perfectly still, her knuckles white against the hilts of her drawn knives. I remembered that night in the forest when we'd learned she'd been taken back to Orion. That couldn't happen again.

On her other side, Benny was eyeing the soldiers with a determination that I took to mean he'd do anything to avoid being enslaved again. But then I remembered how he and Delphinium had tried to kill us while under Orion's influence—for whatever reason, Imperium didn't need us alive anymore.

"Find another way out and take the others to the boat," I told my brother. "I'll take care of this." At the end of my command, I met Delphinium's gaze again. This time, she wouldn't have to fight while others ran.

Surprisingly, Benton didn't fight me. He simply backed away, beckoning to the others. The soldiers raised their guns, but as Jake cocked his gun with a click, they were reminded of what we held over them. The rest of our team left unharmed, leaving us alone with Jaxon, who stood off to the side for a split second before disappearing into thin air.

Now, without worrying about any of us getting shot for blackmail, we had the upper hand again. All we had to do was figure out how to use this hostage situation to get out of here in one piece.

"Let go of her," one of the soldiers said to me. His gun was still pointed at me. I could take a bullet or two, but I was well aware they wouldn't stop until I was dead. And I wasn't sure if Jake would have my back or not. So I retracted my grip on the engineer.

Despite Jake's gun aimed at her head, she turned to face us. "You fell for it. This was just a lure to get you and the ONNT here." Why was her voice so calm and face slack of any emotion?

"Our guns will tear you boat to shreds," the first soldier said, not watching the engineer any longer. "You won't be able to get away."

Rong didn't sneer like the soldier. "I've chosen this. Maybe this will show you why." She then listed a series of seemingly-meaningless numbers. I memorized them immediately, fully knowing that they could very well lead me into a trap if I dug further.

Jake and I locked gazes seconds before he saw something on my face to make him made the hallway before us explode with ice. Rubble fell from the roof and walls as the passage began to collapse.

We simultaneously turned away and ran the opposite direction to return to the boat empty-handed. But it was alright, for I knew something the soldiers didn't.