Tapping the side of his helmet, Christian pulled up the HUD display. Every surface of this place shimmered with warning overlays. Corrosive zones. Compromised beams. He was one step away from a fall to his death.
Brilliant.
The scaffolding twisted upward to loop around the chamber, and carefully he crept along the catwalk until he spied a section of rusted piping that would give him the clearest line of sight. He slotted his rifle into place, tapped the ultralight on his vest, slipping into darkness, and scanned through his scope. None of his teammates could be seen.
Good.
Mira had retrieved the small lock box from a small grate in the platform, and from inside, she plucked the small relay beacon. From this height, Christian couldn’t see the code she tapped into the device, but a few moments later, a pale red light flashed through the tunnel.
The message had been sent.
An hour passed. Twenty minutes more. Christian’s breaths were deep, slow, and controlled as he kept watch on Mira’s position. But inside, his heart thrashed against his ribcage. This wasn’t just a mission. This wasthemission. The one that lethim go back to Gemma. They could not fuck this up, not when Gemma was thinking she was losing herself. He had to bring Nadine in. There was no alternative plan.
“Joshi, status,” Ahna whispered through the comm in his helmet.
“No movement yet aside from Mira,” Imara whispered back.
“Hold positions.”
Another thirty minutes. Forty.
Christian blinked hard as sweat dripped into his eyes. His stomach was tied in knots.Come on, come on. What if Nadine didn’t show? What if this had all been a set up from the start?
Fuck. Something felt off.
Silently, he scanned the site through his scope, looking for any sign of ambush—
“I’ve got activity,” Imara whispered. “Northeast access, two torchlights. No, wait. Three.”
Christian angled his scope. Mira stood, cracking a glow pack against her hip and tossing it off the platform.
“Shit, that could’ve been a signal,” Claude whispered.
A shadow moved inside the glow. Then a second. A third.
“Hold your position,” Ahna ordered. “Let Mira engage. On my mark.”
Christian focused on his breaths to block out the nerves.
They stopped ten feet from Mira, wearing the same protective gear.
“You’re late,” Mira said, voice tight.
“I’m cautious,” a feminine voice said, low, honeyed, and dangerous through her helmet. “You signaled priority. I pictured something fantastic. Instead, I get twitchy body language and a duffel that smells like bait.”
Christian’s heart skipped a beat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mira replied. “You wanted high grade Systems tech, Nadine; I got it. Now, you gonna pay me or not?”
Nadine took a step to her right and lifted her head, just a fraction. “I think you brought friends.”
“Go,” Ahna snapped.
Chaos erupted as Christian’s teammates exploded from their hiding places—along with more Dissent soldiers.
Gunfire rang out in the confined space, deafening and sharp. Christian dropped into full sniper focus, the tunnel narrowing to a single point in his vision.
He fired.
