“Isobel would want us to try…” Luca looks off into the distance.
I nod and check my watch. “Kellan and Felix should be here in ten minutes.”
“Good,” Luca mutters, looking out toward the docks where Jace disappeared. “We’re going to need every damn second.”
A low enginerev echoes from the service road. A familiar black SUV turns sharply into the lot. Kellan’s driving. Felix is in the passenger seat, loading a rifle I pray we won’t have to use.
The car screeches to a stop.
Kellan jumps out first. “All right, which one of you idiots is gonna tell me why you dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night?”
Felix steps out slower, eyes sharp, already scanning the area. “And why I’m holding a gun.”
Luca points toward the docks.
“Because Jace is down there,” he says, “about to do something incredibly stupid.”
Kellan raises an eyebrow. “Define stupid.”
Before Luca can answer, I speak: “Meeting someone. Alone. At his father’s port. With no backup.”
Felix curses quietly. Kellan’s expression hardens.
Luca grabs a duffel bag out of the SUV—heavy enough to clank—and slings it over his shoulder.
“We’re stopping him,” he says. “Before he crosses whatever line he’s been dancing on.”
Kellan folds his arms. “If he’s working with Gideon, interrupting this deal might get us killed.”
Luca doesn’t hesitate.
“If we don’t interrupt it, we’ll lose Jace for good.”
Felix sighs, shaking his head. “Fuck it. I’m in.”
“Let’s go find him and see whatever he’s gotten himself into.”
Rows of towering containers fade into the fog. The floodlights flicker weakly, leaving long strips of shadow between the aisles. Chains rattle in the wind. Somewhere out on the water, a ship horn groans.
Kellan shoulders his rifle. “This place is a damn maze.”
Luca moves ahead without waiting. “Don’t get lost.”
Felix mutters, “He’s not in his normal mood.”
“I wonder why that is,” I whisper back, the sarcasm soaking my words.
The four of us slip between two rows of containers, boots crunching gravel, breath puffing white in the cold.
My fingers tighten around the grip of my pistol. I really don’t care to be out in the field. I can defend myself due to my training, but I’d much rather be overwatch.
Luca signals us to stop with a raised hand. He crouches next to something. He signals us forward to the right.
“How can you be sure? Could be a dockworker,” Felix whispers.
I come up behind them, looking at the footprint in the dirt.
Luca shakes his head once. “I’ve trained with Jace long enough to know his footprint.”
