Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 60921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Great,” I say. “Then let me be honest about how this feels.”
Ozzy lifts his mug. “By all means. Honest Knight is my favorite Knight.”
“This feels like we’re bait,” I say. “Dangling in front of every shark who’s ever wanted to take a bite at Mask and whoever’s stupid enough to stand next to him.”
“Not bait,” Dean says. “But yes, visible. And sometimes visibility is leverage. Luka can’t resist flexing. If he moves too aggressively, we tag more of his people. More operations. More shell companies. He’s pissed enough at you two to make mistakes.”
“He already made one,” Arrow adds. “He tied his Helios identity too close to this run. We’ve got enough now that when we do move? It’ll hurt.”
What he’s leaving unsaid is if you survive long enough for that to matter.
I drag a hand down my face.
There’s movement in the doorway behind the tablet.
I glance back.
Lark stands there in my t-shirt and shorts, hair up in a messy knot, mug cradled in both hands. Her eyes are huge.
She heard enough.
Of course she did.
I mute my mic.
“Eavesdropping?” I ask, trying for light and landing somewhere near strained.
She lifts one shoulder. “Doors in this cabin are made of tissue paper.”
Fair.
I tilt the screen so she can see. “You’re on with Arrow, Dean, and everyone else.”
“Hey, Lark,” Arrow says. “Love what you’ve done with the safe house.”
“Hi, Lark,” Ozzy adds. “Just so you know, we’re strongly against you getting murdered. Official team stance.”
Lark musters a small, crooked smile. “Good to be wanted. In a non-murder way.”
“How you holding up?” Gage asks, his voice pitched low.
Lark shrugs. “I’m good. Promise.”
Dean inclines his head. “Ms. Dawson.”
She shifts closer, hip brushing my shoulder as she leans in.
“I take it our vibes are not immaculate?” she says.
“Depends on how you feel about being slightly more popular on the dark web than you were yesterday,” Ozzy says.
She looks at me, silently asking.
I don’t sugarcoat. “Luka doubled the bounty,” I say. “More people looking. Worse people.”
Her fingers tighten around the mug. There’s a flicker of fear in her eyes. Also something else.
Anger.
“So what?” she says after a beat. “We run? Hide until he gets bored? Hope he cancels the listing because we’re not fun anymore?”
“Nobody here is suggesting waiting for Luka to get bored,” Dean says. “We’re working angles. We just need you to be alive long enough to cash in on them.”
“Recommend you both stay put for now,” Ranger adds. “We’ve got better sight lines on you here. You move, we lose control.”
Lark nods slowly, absorbing it. “So we’re… what, exactly?” she asks. “Sitting ducks with no Wi-Fi?”
“Ducks with teeth,” I say.
She snorts. “That’s not how ducks work.”
“It is in my metaphor.”
She looks at the screen again. “What can we do on our end?” she asks. “Besides panic and make out?”
Arrow chokes on nothing. Ozzy grins. Dean’s eyebrows go up a hair. And Gage just stares, blinking. He hisses low and deep.
“You better not be making out with my sister,” he growls.
I want to tell him I’m not, but I also don’t want to lie to him. Thankfully, Dean interjects.
He clears his throat, dragging the conversation back on track by sheer force of will. “You can do three things,” he says. “One: stay alert. Knight knows the drill—perimeter checks, sight lines, no predictable routines. Two: dig. The more you two can uncover about Luka’s local footprint from that side, the better. There’s only so much we can see from here. Three: rest when you can. You’re no good to anyone burnt out.”
“Copy that,” Lark says. She looks at me then. Really looks.
I see the fear in the tightness of her mouth. The determination in the line of her shoulders. And under it all, the same stubborn streak I’ve always loved and always cursed. “Are you okay staying here?” I ask her quietly, forgetting for a second that a bunch of sets of eyes are still on us.
She thinks. “I’m not okay anywhere someone wants me dead,” she says honestly. “But if the choice is running blind or hunkering down where we at least have eyes, I vote hunker.”
“You sure?” I press.
“Knight.” She nudges my leg with her knee. “I’m scared. That doesn’t mean I want to bolt. You don’t get to lock me in the metaphorical car now.”
Arrow smirks. “She got you there.”
“Shut up,” I tell him.
Dean steps back into frame. “We’ll update you the second we have anything actionable,” he says. “Until then, you have your parameters. You’re not alone in this, Knight. Remember that.”
I nod once.
We sign off.
The connection drops with a little click that sounds louder than it should.
Silence settles over the room.
Lark exhales, shoulders slumping. “Sixty Bitcoin,” she says, staring at the dead screen. “That’s like… what? A billion dollars?”
“Not quite,” I say. “But enough to motivate people who shouldn’t be motivated.”
She walks around the crate to sit on the edge of the bed, mug cupped in both hands, staring at the floor.