Her hair flew about her face and she grabbed it with one hand, turning and walking along the tram as it steadily rocked under her.
Far below, there were giant circular openings in the floor. Air intakes and outtakes used to filter air throughout the station. They were massive, necessary given the large open area they were required to service.
Kira peered over the side, what she was contemplating giving her pause. If Jin was here, he'd have a whole bunch of statistics about how unlikely her odds of success. Right before he forbade her from undertaking such a reckless action.
Her smile grew. Good thing he wasn't here.
She straightened, the toes of her boots hanging over the edge of the tram as it rocketed along its path, taking her directly over the pipes.
She stilled, taking several deep breaths and releasing them, reaching for her calm center as every sense she had came online.
She waited, the tram picking up speed. Jump too soon and she would undershoot the pipe, too late and she'd overshoot. She needed to be precise.
In her mind, she was aware of the wizard getting closer, of him landing on her tram and sprinting toward her.
Her vision spiraled to that pipe. Her body tensed. Now.
She stepped out into the air, dropping like a stone. She crossed her arms over her chest and pointed her toes, the air rushing past her, the sound of it roaring in her ear.
Faintly, she heard an angry shout above her.
Down, down she went, until the air pressure under her grew, almost supporting her weight from the force of the air being pushed up. She grinned as her descent slowed, then she was past the opening of the pipe.
Its slant gradually increased until it supported most of her weight. The air pressure rose and she started to move toward the opening. The red light of the emergency hatch flashed and she grabbed for it, using it to anchor her as she twisted the lock and shouldered the hatch open.
She collapsed into a service tunnel, panting. Well, that was fun.
CHAPTER FIVE
Kira jogged past anothershipping container, grateful for the sight of the dock numbers as she drew close to where she’d left theWanderer. Finding her way out of the service tunnels had taken longer than she'd anticipated. Her memory of the layout had faded in the past few years and she'd been in a section she'd never visited before.
Still, she was fairly confident she was ahead of pursuit. They would have had to backtrack to the lifts and then make their way to the port side of the station before threading their way through the various ship berths. To say nothing of locating theWandererin the first place.
Jin would have made sure the registration was disguised so nothing would immediately point to Kira and him. Until now, that had seemed like pointless paranoia on their part, but she was grateful they'd kept up the security protocol, despite never needing it.
"Jin, you there?" Kira murmured.
