"If you two don't shut your bleeding mouths right now, I’m going to whistle for the Ministry patrol currently doing a sweep of Sector Two's south perimeter," a raspy, tobacco-ruined voice barked from the shadows beneath a towering gantry crane.Vaedrix instinctively jerked his hand toward his belt, his fingers curling into empty air where his stun baton used to hang, before a sharp spike of fire flared from his infected forearm wound. He bit down hard on his lower lip, swallowing a curse as he leaned heavily against a stack of damp wooden pallets.Caedrik didn't flinch. He adjusted the collar of his stolen, grease-stained jacket, narrowed his eyes against the biting coastal wind, and took two deliberate steps forward into the dim yellow pool of light cast by a swinging overhead work lamp."You wouldn't whistle for anyone, Silas. Not with the amount of unregistered fuel cells currently sitting under your tarp," Caedrik said, his voice a calm, rhythmic challenge that cut cleanly through

"You look like a walking corpse, friend. And your little shadow there looks like he’s about to pass out from blood loss," Silas rasped, his cynical gaze flicking from Caedrik’s tense posture to Vaedrix, who was currently leaning against a stack of crates with his eyes squeezed shut against a fresh wave of feverish dizziness. "What makes you think I’m trading my best set of dockworker uniforms and crane access for a handful of hot batteries that’ll get us both put against a wall?""Because you don't have a choice," Vaedrix murmured, forcing his eyes open and stepping out from the shadows. His face was slick with cold sweat, his skin unnaturally pale beneath the sickly yellow glare of the overhead crane light. He fought down the rising nausea in his throat, keeping his voice steady despite the hammer-like thumping in his skull. "The Ministry is sweeping the entire waterfront tonight. They aren't looking for contraband; they're looking for Othrek. And the moment they realize you've been

"He's gone," Vaedrix muttered. He kicked a rusted shipping pallet, the metal screeching against the concrete floor of the empty container. "He was right here, Caedrik. We were hours behind him. Minutes, maybe.""Keep your voice down," Caedrik hissed, his boots crunching softly on the grit as he stepped inside. He slid the heavy iron door shut, leaving only a sliver of sickly yellow dockyard light slicing through the darkness. "You want every enforcer on the waterfront to hear you?""I don't care about the enforcers." Vaedrix bent down, his knees popping under the strain. His left arm was a throbbing knot of white-hot agony, the makeshift bandage Mara had applied already soaked through with a mixture of dark blood and clear fluid. He reached into the dust, his trembling fingers closing around a pair of cracked, neon-pink glasses. "Look at this. He didn't drop these. They were stepped on.""Let me see." Caedrik snatched the glasses from Vaedrix’s hand. He pulled a small, brass-rimmed ma

"They drop, and the entire city becomes an open book for the Ministry to rewrite however they see fit," Caedrik finished, his jaw tightening as he slid the neon glasses into his coat pocket. "Which means we have two choices. We re-enter the subterranean transit lines where every digital turnstile logs our biometrics, or we take the long way.""The long way," Vaedrix repeated, the words tasting like copper and ash in his mouth. He looked down at his left arm, wrapped in crude, blood-stiffened bandages that did little to stem the persistent throb of infection beneath the skin. "You mean the rusted suspension bridge. The one connecting Sectors 2 and 3.""I mean the bridge that has no digital checkpoints, no automated turrets, and no security gates," Caedrik replied sharply, already unlatching the side door of the container and peering out into the dim, smog-choked alleys of the waterfront. "It also has no cover, no windbreaks, and a direct line of sight to every surveillance drone the Mi

"Watch that support strut," Caedrik shouted over the roaring gale, his fingers gripping the cold iron railing of the suspension bridge as a fresh wave of sleet lashed horizontally across their faces. "The plating is completely rotted out near the base. One wrong step and you're dropping straight into the industrial runoff."Vaedrix pulled his heavy wool coat tighter around his shivering frame, his teeth chattering so hard he could barely form the words. "I can't feel my fingers," he yelled back, his boots sliding against the iced-over metal grating. "And my arm feels like it's on fire. The fever is getting worse, Caedrik. I don't know how much farther I can push this.""You'll push it as far as it takes, because if you drop here, Director Vance wins by default," Caedrik retorted without turning around, his eyes fixed on the massive concrete anchor tower looming through the blinding sheet of rain and sleet ahead. "Look up. Those overhead drones aren't patrolling randomly anymore. They'