Chapter 35
I recognize this part of the city. It’s the industrial sector where we ran several mock missions while training for Silver Block, filled with towering factories, sprawling warehouses, and tall smokestacks that release wisps of steam up into the night sky.
Normally the area would be bustling, but it’s nearly midnight and everything is deserted.
It’s foggy out tonight, the spring air damp. I find it amusing that everyone still pretends there are four seasons, when autumn and winter haven’t made an appearance on the Continent in decades. Our climate is either mild spring temperatures or scorching summers.
We’re taking two vehicles to our rendezvous with Jasper Reed.
Over the comm, Gray directs our car to cut left between two warehouses.
Uprising intelligence sent a drone earlier to recon the best sites to position the snipers.
That means me, Mako, and Orin. Gray’s personal security detail will be Evlynne.
My personal security detail is Xavier, who insists on sticking to me like glue, except the annoying kind of glue that takes forever to peel off when it gets on your skin.
While Gray and Evlynne veer off in the other vehicle, Mako stops our car to let me and Xavier out.
“This is you, Wrenny.”
I flash him a smile as we slide out of the vehicle, my rifle case slung over my shoulder.
Xavier and I climb a rusted metal ladder to the top of the two-story warehouse we’ve been assigned to.
Although it’s the middle of the night, machines are still operating because I hear the grinding noises echoing from distant buildings.
When I take a deep breath, the air smells like oil and rust.
We hop onto the roof and get in position. There’s a cracked pipe nearby with steam hissing out of it. It clouds my vision for a second, forcing me to readjust so I’m not in its path. I’m about to remove my rifle from the case when Gray’s voice snaps over the feed.
“Change of plans. Darlington, Ford, you’re with me. You’re swapping out with Ev.”
Evlynne’s outraged protest follows fast. “What in the actual fuck, Gray?”
“Reed requested it.”
“Why?” I join into the conversation, genuinely befuddled. Why would he request that? I don’t even know the man.
“He wants to say hello to the lieutenant.” Gray sounds like he’s speaking through clenched teeth.
My head swivels toward Xavier, who activates his earpiece. “What can I say?” he drawls arrogantly. “Everybody loves me.”
“Shut up,” three different voices mutter.
“Get down here,” Gray orders. “Now.”
Evlynne is not happy to be relegated to sniper duty. When we descend the ladder, we find her standing at the bottom, wearing a murderous expression.
“If anything happens to Gray,” she warns.
“It won’t,” I promise.
She scales the ladder with her rifle, and we head toward the waiting vehicle. When we reach the other warehouse, I leave my long-range rifle in the back seat and accept the assault rifle that Gray passes to me.
Xavier looks between us, scowling. “If you expect me to walk into a smuggler’s lair unarmed, you’re fucking crazy.”
Gray unholsters the handgun on his hip and hands it to Xavier. “Happy?”
“Ecstatic.”
Outside, Gray leads the way. The ground beneath our boots is damp and dirty concrete that turns to gravel as we slip through an alleyway between two warehouses.
Most of the doors I see are rusted shut.
We creep past them all, finally coming to a stop in front of an unmarked door.
Slate gray, thick steel. Despite the rust on it, the hinges look brand-new.
Gray presses his knuckles against the door, giving a slow knock followed by two fast ones.
Several seconds tick by before the door opens with a low groan, and a man appears.
He’s short and burly, with a harsh face devoured by a dark beard and bushy hair.
He has the kind of suspicious eyes that you need to survive in the Point’s seedy underbelly, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t smiled a day in his life.
Gray nods at him. “Shamus.”
“Blake.”
He lets us in, the door creaking shut behind us.
The minty odor of euca and tobacco clings to his dark coat.
It’s all I can smell as we follow Shamus deeper into the warehouse, which is lit by pale bulbs that flicker above our heads.
Shadows dance over wooden crates that are stacked all the way to the ceiling.
“Smuggler’s paradise,” I whisper to Xavier.
He sighs. “Silver Elite was trying to find his caches for years. But he’s got a great system in place. He moved the product so fast, we’d always show up too late.”
“Jas is back here.” Shamus’s voice is a deep baritone and full of gravel.
We walk through the rows of crates toward a dusty area in the back of the warehouse. I see a desk with a holoscreen and tablet, and a big leather chair where Jasper sits, looking way too comfortable in the shadows.
He grins at the sight of us, leaning back in his chair. “Good to see you again, Lieutenant.”
“Likewise.” Xavier glances around, eyes gleaming. “You got any contraband I can sample? Preferably a nice glass of glenshade?”
“Nah, nothing interesting. It’s all canned stuff. But I’ll let you know when the next shipment comes in.”
“Seriously?” Gray looks between the two. “This is why you requested Ford? To talk about contraband? You realize he’s your enemy, right?”
“Everyone is my enemy,” Jasper replies with a shrug. “So. Why are you here, Gray?”
Gray gets right to the point. “We need a favor.”
“I don’t do favors. I do deals. And only deals I get the better end of.”
“Trust me, this one is going to be very beneficial to you. We want an audience with the Faithful camp leaders, and we know you can make those introductions.”
“Why would I do that? They’re some of my best customers.” Jasper rolls his eyes. “What do I possibly gain by putting their lives in danger and disclosing their locations?”
“You help to take the Company down, for one. And if we succeed in doing that, the Authority is offering you a seat on the council.”
“Nah. You know I don’t want any part of your cause. I’m busy.”
Xavier snorts under his breath, earning him a dark scowl from Gray.
“We’re talking about a huge position of power, Jas. A chance to be on the top, and not just in the Point. On the entire Continent. Once the Company is out of power, we’ll need to build a new world. Don’t you want to be part of that?”
“You say this as if a win is guaranteed. I prefer to wait it out and see where the chips fall.”
“Aren’t you tired of being a self-serving asshole?”
“Is this a negotiation tactic? Insult the other party?” Chuckling, Jasper reaches into a tin box and pulls out a cigarette that he shoves in the corner of his mouth.
It dangles there while he rummages for a lighter.
“Tell me, how do you plan to bring about this new world of yours, Gray? How are you ‘taking down’ the Company?”
“By uniting everybody we can. The network spans every ward and every level of the Company, but we don’t have enough people. We need allies. We need the Faithful. There are tens of thousands of them living in the shadows. You can plead our case to them, if you’re so inclined.”
Jasper takes a long, slow drag of his cigarette, watching us.
“You know,” he says, “when I was a child, my parents used to read me fairy tales. Or at least my mom did. My dad didn’t believe in that nonsense.” He blows a cloud of tobacco smoke in our direction. “Guess who I take after.”
Gray lets out an irritated breath, eliciting a rumble of laughter from Jasper.
“Look, I’m not jeopardizing my entire empire for a bunch of Mods with delusions of grandeur.
And I don’t believe for a second that I have a place in this new regime.
Adrienne is a stone-cold bitch. She might suck my dick every time I’m on her base, but I’m under no illusions that she wouldn’t cut it off in a heartbeat. ”
I hide a smile, while Xavier snickers.
“She’s agreed to full immunity for you,” Gray assures him. “You won’t face retribution for anything you’ve done in the Point or will do under the new leadership. Picture it, Jas…Protection, a seat at the table. You won’t have to skulk around in the shadows like a criminal anymore.”
“What if I like being a criminal?”
“Then you get to control the black market the moment the Company falls,” I interject.
When Gray turns to me with a frown, I offer a half shrug.
“What? I’m not under any illusions, either.
No matter who takes over, the black market will always exist. Weapons, supplies.
People always want their contraband.” I meet Jasper’s amused gaze.
“So you just keep doing whatever you want, and we look the other way.”
“I knew I liked you,” he says, beaming at me.
“So you’ll help us rally the Faithful?” I ask.
He laughs. “No.”
Gray sighs.
Jasper’s boots scrape the floor as he gets up and strides toward us. “You still haven’t given me a convincing argument. Why would I join your little revolution when I can just wait it out?”
“Wait what out?” Gray counters. “This war is happening regardless. Soon even you won’t be able to hide. At least with us, you have a future.”
“I decide my own future,” he says, shrugging again. “Is that all?”
Before anyone can answer, Evlynne’s voice echoes through our earpieces.
“Gray, you need to get out now. We’ve got a Command convoy heading your way.”
Xavier and I stand at attention, while Gray addresses the other snipers. “Mako, Orin, do you have them in your sights?”
The two men quickly report. “No, sir.”
“They’re five minutes out,” Evlynne says. “Nichole, my contact in Command Intelligence, just linked with me. She said it’s two trucks. Gold Block.”
Our team leader hesitates.
“Gray,” she presses, tone firm, “the intel is good. Get out of there.”
I see him make the decision in a split second. He looks at the rest of us. “We need to move. Gold Block is bearing down on the warehouse.”