“I invented it,” Calix snapped back. “Emotionally, it belongs to me.”
Riot stared at him blankly. “That sentence means nothing.” She won the argument, of course. Mostly because she was right.
Once everyone finished gearing up, we loaded into one vehicle and headed toward the airport outskirts.
Riot sat in the passenger seat beside me, one elbow propped against the window while she watched the road.
“Take exit fifteen,” she instructed quietly. “We’ll approach on foot from there.” I nodded and turned off the main road.
The hangars near the airport slowly came into view through the darkness. Most belonged to private charters and independent flights rather than the airport itself. Hangar seventeen sat furthest back. Almost hidden. Almost invisible.
Exactly the kind of place people used when they didn’t want to be found.
Because these hangars catered to the rich, famous, and paranoid, the entire area had been built for privacy. Thick clusters of trees wrapped around the outer perimeter, turning the space into a hidden pocket of darkness cut off from the rest of the airport.
Perfect to use as an infiltration point.
“Remember, guys, the shields only have enough for three charges. So try to use it wisely.” Calix said as we all slid them into place.
As we got out of the car, he grumbled under his breath, “If I had more time, I could’ve made a better electric bank, but beggars can't be choosers.”
Riot silently—though that was somehow an understatement—moved through the manmade forest while the rest of us followed in her wake.
She glided between branches without disturbing a single leaf. No crunch of dirt beneath her boots. No rustle of fabric. Nothing.
I tried copying the exact placement of her steps twice yet still managed to snap a twig beneath my shoe. Riot’s head turned immediately. The glare she sent me over her shoulder could’ve frozen blood. I mouthed a silentsorry,but she ignored me and kept moving.
Every few seconds, her gaze swept through the trees, pink eyes narrowing before she continued forward. The deeper we went, the faster her pace became—not sloppy, not rushed, just sharper somehow. More alert.
Then the back of the hangar finally came into view through the trees, and Riot dropped into a crouch.
“Down.”
Her whisper barely reached us before she flung a line of air blades behind us into the forest. The wind sliced through branches with violent snaps, and all three of us hit the ground immediately.
My pulse slammed hard against my ribs while I forced myself to focus on everything.
The sound of wind threading through the trees. Animals scattering deeper into the forest. The distant groan of machinery from the hangar. Muffled voices. Metal clanging somewhere farther ahead.
But behind us? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And somehow that made Riot’s expression worse.
Her eyes narrowed into the darkness like she could see something the rest of us couldn’t. Then she lifted one hand.
Air twisted violently around us, forming a nearly invisible wall that distorted the trees behind it like heat waves.
“Move.” She pointed toward a rusted section along the far right corner of the hangar. “Get there.”
Her voice stayed calm, flat, deadly focused.
“I’ll cover you. Stay low. Watch the tree line.” Her eyes flicked once toward Olivia. “When you hear screaming, go inside.”
Olivia blinked. “Screaming?”
Calix grinned. “That’s how you’ll know Riot’s distraction is working.”
Riot’s expression never changed. “Go.”
I grabbed Olivia’s hand tightly. “Hold my hand and run. Calix will follow.”
