CHAPTER 44
Riven
Mind Games - Sickick
The Lower Layers are exactly how I remember them.
Charlie and Jules keep pace behind me. We're all dressed the same—black leggings, black boots, zip-up hoodies, and gloves.
Each of us has our hair tucked away beneath a balaclava, our faces concealed so that only our eyes are visible.
I put in colored contact lenses.
With my heterochromia, I'd be recognized immediately. I choose a warm, soft brown—the same shade Kyle's eyes used to be.
“Fuck, Riven,” Charlie whispers, looking around. “The Lower Layers are kind of cool... in an illegal, dangerous sort of way.”
“Focus, Charlie,” I murmur. “This isn't a vacation.”
I glance down at Jules's comm, the holographic map of the Lower Layers floating above it.
“We have to take...”
“My next right,” Jules says, checking the route. “We're ten minutes away.”
We walk at a brisk pace, doing our best to blend in with everyone else.
Strangely, our outfits don't seem to draw a single glance. Probably because they are used to that here.
Good.
The docks stretch out right in front of us. We break into a run, then crouch behind the numbered shipping container where the delivery is supposed to arrive.
Charlie reaches into her backpack and pulls out a crowbar. It slips from her gloved fingers.
Clang.
Jules and I both jump.
The metal smacks against the asphalt, the sound echoing through the docks.
Charlie squeezes one eye shut in a wince.
“Goddamn it, Charlie,” I rasp, clutching at my chest. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Jules simply smacks the back of Charlie's head in gentle reproach.
“Sorry, girls.” Charlie mutters before falling silent.
Right on time, the shipment arrives, it's delivered in a large wooden crate.
We move toward it cautiously but once we're standing in front of it, the three of us exchange confused glances.
I thought it'd be much bigger.
Instead, it's about half my height and roughly as wide as the three of us standing shoulder to shoulder—it's basically an oversized shoebox.
Charlie steps forward and wedges the crowbar between the lid and the side of the crate.
Jules moves in to help, bracing one boot against the wood before they both pull down.
The lid gives way immediately, I grab it and yank it completely off.
I kick the crate, trying to tip it over. It doesn't even budge, frustration flares instantly.
Who the fuck does this oversized shoebox think it is?
I glance at Jules and Charlie, they understand immediately.
The three of us grab the edge of the crate and shove. This time, it tips onto its side, spilling its contents across the asphalt.
We circle around it and start stuffing everything into our backpacks.
We don't waste time checking what any of it is.
We don't have that luxury.
If the shipment's been delivered, someone will be coming to collect it.
And I don't want them caught in the middle of this, even if they already are.
How much goddamn shit did they pack into this thing? For fuck's sake, it's taking too long.
Charlie stops abruptly, her head snapping up like an animal catching a scent.
“What?” Jules asks, stopping too as she follows Charlie's gaze.
“Riven,” Charlie whispers.
I keep stuffing the shipment into my backpack. It's getting so heavy I'm probably going to pull a damn muscle trying to carry it.
Then I hear Charlie's breathing turn quick and uneven. Jules doesn't breathe at all.
I freeze.
The fact that neither of them is moving isn't normal. I don't even have time to look up before a voice cuts through the docks.
“Well, well, well,” a deep, rough voice drawls with a mocking laugh. “Would you look at that, boys? Three little thieves had the same idea we did.”
I don't recognize the voice. It doesn't belong to anyone from Crimson Velocity I'd heard while working on Evren's car.
I finally lift my head, the man has Electric deep blue, layered medium hair with golden-hazel eyes that moves like he is seeing every detail a mile away.
I straighten instantly, putting myself in front of Jules and Charlie.
“Who are you?” I ask bluntly, gripping the crowbar as I rise to my feet. I lower my voice, forcing it deeper so they won't realize I'm a woman.
It's ridiculous. Still too high to pass for a man, but I'm trying.
“Oh.” The man tilts his head. “I'm Renji Akuro, leader of the Golden Kitsune. And you are?”
My eyes narrow, another gang leader. What the fuck am I supposed to do?
I don't know him.
He could be dangerous enough to disappear in a blur and snap our necks before we even react.
We don't know what kind of mods—body modifications—he, or any of them, might have.
“My name is—” I start, but I'm cut off as he's suddenly standing right in front of me, as if he just teleported.
He grips my chin through the balaclava with his thumb and forefinger, tilting my head back until I'm forced to look up at him.
I frown, making it clear I'm not backing down but I'm not stupid.
I'm stubborn, vengeful and bitter even but I'm not stupid. Not with Charlie's and Jules' lives on the line.
He stares into my eyes for a long second, then his own widen.
“You're supposed to be dead,” he breathes, taking a step back. “Those eyes... that brown... It's impossible.”
My heart stops.
What? What the fuck is happening? I'm wearing my brother's eye color to hide my own.
“You've got the same eyes as someone.” He pauses then his face contortions in disgust, resentment and fear. All three flash across his face. “Is that you, Kyle?”
I stumble back in pure shock.
How the fuck does he know my brother?
It doesn't make any sense.
Kyle was eighteen when he died, and Renji looks to be around thirty.
Thirty minus eleven.
It's possible.
Kyle could've crossed paths with him at some point, so Kyle had been here, at some point in his life.
My breathing turns ragged. My grip on the crowbar tightens until my knuckles turn white.
“No. It’s not you, you’re way smaller than him.” He pauses “Must be the sister, the one I talked to a little month ago.”
My heart stops completely, the hacker was him? The leader of another gang?
Oh. My. God.
Before I can speak, he takes a few steps back.
“Contact me,” he says with a smile. “Or I will, if you want to know more.”
With that, he turns his back on me—on all of us—and leaves with the other men.
I'm left standing there.
My grip on the crowbar goes slack.
It hits the asphalt with a clang.
“Girls, take the shipment and go to the tattoo studio. Hide it there.”
“What was that, Riven?” Jules asks. I can hear the same shock in her voice that I'm feeling.
“Just... go.”
“And you, Riv?” Charlie wonders, slinging both her bag and mine over her shoulders.
“I... have things to do first.”
They nod. They know better than to push when I'm like this.
Hell, even I don't push myself when I'm like this. The last time I did, I burned my father's car to the ground.
My heart pounds, pounds like I just ran ten fucking miles.
What was that? What does that mean? What was my brother involved in? And with whom?
Before I can even take a step, I hear boots scraping against the metal.
Then a voice.
"Oh, that's rich!" The mocking laugh cuts through the air, sending a chill down my spine.
I'd recognize it anywhere.
Neo.
I lift my gaze toward the sound and spot him perched on top of a shipping container.
He straightens, then cracks his knuckles, already looking forward to whatever violence is about to unfold.
A sigh of relief escapes me, it dies just as quickly. My outfit, my color lenses hides who I am, they don't know it's me.
And I'm alone with their stolen-disappeared shipment.
Well... I wasn't planning on getting killed today.
I also wasn't planning on having my entire fucking past turned upside down.
"Calm down, Neo," another voice cuts in, calmer, deeper, more commanding.
Varek.
He speaks again. "We're taking that little man back to the warehouse."
I am completely, royally fucked.
I spin to run.
A powerful arm snakes around my throat from behind into a chokehold.
My eyes widen, no. Not again.
I twist, trying to break free. The hold only tightens.
I can't breathe.
Fuck.
Panic surges through me, but my body is already going weak.
"Ssshhh..." a warm breath brushes against my ear. "Stop fighting. It'll make it easier."
Ren’s voice.
It’s the only thing I hear before my vision blurs, before the docks dissolve into darkness.
Then—Nothing.