“Something is wrong,” I say, turning to look at him. I taste blood as I speak, and I reach blindly for the gash at my head, trying to ascertain the damage. “This feels like a much bigger operation than we’ve trained for—”
Kenji slaps my hand away from my head. “Don’t touch it. It looks worse than it is. Head wounds bleed a lot.”
“I’m fine,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.
“No concussion?”
“Like I said, I’m fine.”
Kenji peers around the low wall, then falls back. “Look, these dudes are fighting with weapons I’ve never even seen before. One of those lasers could’ve taken off your whole head.”
“The teams were prepared,” I admit. “We’ve got powers on our side, but they leveraged the element of surprise. We have to pivot, and we have to do it quickly.” I pause. “I think we should split up.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I hate it when we split up.”
This nearly prompts a smile. “It’s our best option,” I say to him. “All units are under the directives of their commanding officers, and I can’t issue any new orders without giving away our position. Between the two of us we can cover more ground, execute individual operations—”
“Wait, hold on, why can’t you issue new orders? You can decide right now. Issue a new directive over the comms. We’ll pivot together. We have a system for that.”
I shake my head, then check to make sure we’re still clear before I say, “I think our central comms have been hacked.”
“What?”
“The information has been inconsistent,” I explain. “In some cases, entirely unverified.”
“Shit.”
“All intel seems to insist that a high-profile prisoner and known Ark assassin is responsible for stealing sensitive material. But we know for a fact that Rosabelle has been in Nazeera’s custody for several hours.”
Kenji takes this in. “You think someone’s trying to set her up?”
“I don’t know. I still don’t know what to think of her. She might’ve helped orchestrate the entire thing. Created the opportunity. All I know for sure is that the intel isn’t coming fromus. I wasn’t the one to report the vial missing. I certainly never indicated to anyone that she was the main suspect—”
“Get down,” Kenji cries, knocking me to the ground, then covering me as he exchanges fire. The sounds are both deafening and short-lived.
Kenji ducks back behind the wall, breathing hard.
We both activate invisibility, but the protection has been limited; our enemies had already seen us open fire from this position.
I rise into a low crouch and spot an assailant taking cover behind a distant building. I soon spot two others. They’re dressed exactly as our infantry would be. Same uniforms. Flawless mimics. Perfect spies.
The only difference is, I can feel their malice.
“On your left,” I say quietly. “Two on my right.”
“I see him,” says Kenji.
We take them out together, finding our marks in nearly coordinated kills.
Then we bolt.
“Head inland,” I say as we run. We can’t see each other, but I can sense Kenji close by. “I want to get away from the harbor—”
I hear the electric thrum of advanced weaponry and I tackle Kenji to the ground, holding him there as the laser fire shoots past our heads.
