Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
We barely made it ten steps before a crackle sounded from above, a voice coming from a speaker.
“Attention! First Unit, report for debriefing in ops room as soon as possible. I repeat, First Unit report to ops room for debriefing.” There was a slight pause.
“Also report to the briefing, new member X.”
A buzz of activity came from the canteen across the way, a few people jogging out, and I saw Tracker instantly respond, grabbing his items and leaving the gym area.
“That’s us.” Luk tapped my arm. “We’ve got to go.”
“Me?”
“You’re X, right?” Luk started to turn the opposite way, waving me on. “Come on.”
“Better go, little lamb.” Kek flicked her head to follow Luk. “Looks like your test day is already here.”
“Test day?”
“Prove your loyalty to the cause,” Kek spoke over her shoulder, heading for the canteen. “Try not to die. Hate to think I spent so much energy saving your bony ass for it to die now.”
“Come on!” Luk yelled back to me, my feet moving to catch up with him, anxiety over what was going to happen tapping at the pulse in my neck.
Lukas directed me upstairs, forgoing the elevator. It was only a floor up, but the moment we pushed out onto the top floor, fatigue punched me in the gut, curving me over and rendering me breathless.
What the hell? What was going on with me? Bakos used to make us do five hundred steps twice a day. It had to be the chloroform. That stuff had wicked aftereffects. Still, I shouldn’t be this tired suddenly.
“You okay?” Luk peered back at me.
“Yeah, fine.” I forced a smile on my face, pushing through the heavy sensation.
“We’ll get some food before we head out wherever we’re going.”
“Where are we going?”
“About to find out.” He turned into a room, me right on his tail. It had a large table and creaky metal chairs. A screen was pulled down where a detailed map of what looked like a train station in Prague was projected.
Tracker, Ava, Blade, Sab, and two others I didn’t know were already settling in around the table when we walked in.
Mykel’s eyes slid to me, giving me a nod, affirming he wanted me present.
Luk and I took our seats. No one was really talking, but the room buzzed with energy and murmurs.
My uncle stepped up to the head of the table, in full Kaptain mode. A pretty but stern-looking woman on his right side handed him a file.
“We just got word from our scouts in the city there is a huge cargo shipment coming in. Someone on the inside has relayed back to us that whatever the train is carrying from Budapest is important enough for the prime minister to want his personal guards to be there.”
Train from Budapest? A sinking sensation plunged into my stomach.
“Last time, we were too late to intercede, and the spies inside Leon’s camp could not find out what the shipment was, only it was extremely valuable to him.”
Dread wiggled deeper into my gut, twinging with the notion I knew exactly what was in the cargo, though the claim of my knowledge stuck in my throat.
I didn’t know for sure if it was the pills.
I also wasn’t absolutely sure I could trust Mykel.
He wasn’t like Andris. If he found out about them, would he want to use them as well?
“The station is going to be heavily guarded, but it is still open to civilians. While they are unloading this cargo, passengers will be getting on for the return journey.”
We were lucky in this part of the world that we had a functioning rail system at all, but there were very limited trains, most working double duty for passengers and cargo.
“Blade, Sab, Lea, and Jak, I want you guys on all exits.” Mykel indicated to the two I didn’t know and turned to the map on the screen, the slide switching to a floorplan of the train station.
“Tracker, Ava, you are going to cause a distraction on the opposite platform, while Luk and X . . .” He looked straight at me, and once again, I could see so much of my father in him.
It was the look I got when he challenged me to not let him down.
“You two will try to steal it . . . at the very least find out what it is.”
“Steal?” I was a little stunned he wanted me on the most precarious part of the job. Not that I wasn’t perfect for it. Stealing was my favorite pastime. “Me?”
“It’s sink or swim here,” he replied sternly. “We don’t have time to coddle you. Every day, more and more people die in poverty or are killed because of who they are. The war is on our doorstep. Are you in or out?”
I glanced around the room of strangers, their gazes giving me no support. But then I felt Luk’s fingers squeeze my knee, telling me he’d be right by my side. This was someone who was fighting against his own mother for what was right.
“I’m in.”
Something resembling pride flickered in Mykel’s eyes, his head dipping. I felt like I had passed the first half of the test.
“The train comes in at twelve-fifteen p.m. on platform six.”
That meant the train would have left at 4:45 a.m. from Budapest. The exact train I used to lie in wait for, pushing the two minutes and twenty seconds I had to rob it.
“Departing in twenty minutes, with an hour drive, will land you at the train station at half-past eleven, giving you time to evaluate and scope out the guards, exits, and situation. There is also the possibility the train will change arrival platforms,” Kaptain stated. “Is everyone clear about their role?”
All nodded, confirming a solid yes, acting like this was the millionth time they had done this type of mission.
“Good. All communication between you and the base will be cut off. Watch out for fae doors and the Mongrels. My inside spies are telling me they are getting bolder and more ruthless, not sticking to the nights anymore.”
“Mongrels?” I asked.
“A group of cutthroat bandits who prowl the motorways and around the borders of the privileged, murdering and robbing,” Mykel answered. “They have no purpose or goal except to thieve. They are loyal to no one or no side.”
They sounded exactly like the Hounds in Budapest. It wasn’t surprising they had their own gangs here as well.
They always popped up in desperate times to take the scraps while the top was too busy fighting over power.
Istvan always brushed the Hounds off as nothing but a nuisance.
A small splinter in your finger, but in my experience, the sliver could fester and turn into a much bigger problem if ignored.
“Okay. Good luck, everyone.” Kaptain dipped his head and strolled out, not even looking back at me, which made me feel like he believed in me more than I thought. He didn’t act like my hand needed to be held.
Sink or swim.
“That’s all the instruction?” In HDF, I was used to detailed, step-by-step directions.
Luk rose from the chair. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, and he trusts us to figure out our moves in a moment’s time.
So many things can change, and if you aren’t able to adjust in a blink, a lot of things can go wrong.
People die.” He yanked on my chair, getting me out and moving.
“Plus, we aren’t his number one team for nothing.
You’re lucky—people have been waiting years to join this crew. ”
“Wow.” I fluttered my lashes at him. “I’m so honored I get to be in the presence of Kaptain’s grade-A beef.” I motioned to him. The man’s physique was seriously top-shelf.
He huffed out a deep laugh. “You and I are going to be good friends.”
I hoped he would be right, but I was still on guard. Being friendly and flirty was one thing. Letting someone in was another.
I had learned that lesson.
A dagger stabbed at my chest every time I pictured Warwick with his family. The dream of him calling to me only hurt more. Because it was just a dream.
He was clear he wanted our connection to end, to be rid of me—now I saw why.
Who would want to have a connection like we had to another woman when you were already with someone else?
But why wasn’t he honest with me from the beginning?
Was the moment in the shower an act of pity?
A way to cheat without actually cheating?
The man was a head fuck. Walling myself up against Warwick was what I had to do. If not for us, or even the woman I saw, at least for the child.
My life was here now, and whether it was a good or bad thing didn’t matter. Severing my connection with Warwick was for the best.
“Get food and do whatever you need to do and meet me back here in fifteen,” Luk said, running off.
My stomach was dancing around like the polka, but I knew today was going to be long and stressful. I needed energy—a lot of it—and a gallon of coffee.
The lethargic feeling shook down into my bones, and I had to clear it out.
For once, I wanted whatever unique, superhuman quality I had to show up today.
Lives depended on it.
Twenty minutes later, I was on the back of a motorcycle, holding on to my partner, the nippy morning air slicing across my face on our way to Prague.
Luk had put me in a heavy jacket, and I was thankful it cut some of the chill from the crisp October day.
The slight warmth of the hazy sun heated the black fabric of my clothes, melting into my skin.
When I met back up with him, everyone was in an artillery room across from the ops room.
This held every type of weapon, jackets, goggles, small walkie-talkies, and other things we might need for this mission.
We were strapped with guns and knives while still trying to look like everyday pedestrians heading for a train.
The egg sandwich I scarfed down must have sat wrong in my stomach because as soon as the group went down a long hallway, climbing out of the earth through a hatch, I vomited in the bushes.
My head spun, my body wanting to collapse into the ground and sleep.
But I shoved through, forcing my shoulders back and my feet to move forward.