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Ryneth looked out through the glass. “So they’re not taking us to the spaceport.”

Kylix smirked. “That would have been too clean for an organization like Concordant. They don’t take the usual routes for take-off. From where we found you, we already assumed they had other ways of landing.” He looked around. “The refinery could be another access point, though we still need to prove it. We don’t act on suspicions.”

“Yeah?” Daven bit out. “If you did, maybe we’d have arrested them already.”

Kylix turned his head slowly. The look he gave Daven was flat enough to cut. “Not now.”

Daven’s jaw flexed. He said nothing.

Ryneth tightened his hand around Daven’s. “So they’re waiting here until they see me.”

Kylix’s gaze stayed on the refinery below. “It seems so.”

Daven’s jaw flexed. “Why?”

Ryneth didn’t look away from the dark structure below. “Does it matter?” His grip tightened once around Daven’s fingers. “I’ll go in. I’ll talk to them. Then we’ll know.”

Yure’s voice crackled through Kylix’s multi-slate. “My breach pinged them. The moment they saw who was with us, the game changed. They know we’re watching. We know they’re moving. No one gets to pretend anymore.”

Below them, the refinery glowed in broken strips of red light. A black shuttle sat in the lower bay, half-shadowed by steel beams, its hull drinking in every trace of light around it.

Ryneth went rigid.

Kylix’s gaze sharpened. “There. That’s our opening.”

Daven’s jaw tightened. “He was supposed to be visible, not exposed.”

Kylix finally looked at Ryneth. “Listen carefully. This is not a negotiation. It’s a test. They want to see if we’ll put you where they can see you.” His voice turned colder. “We do it on our terms.” Then he looked to the others. “Move.”

“And if they move on me?” Ryneth asked.

Kylix’s expression didn’t shift. “Then we move first.”

Something in Daven snapped. Air spilled loose around his boots in a hot, violent gust, sharp enough to rattle the seams of the hovercar.

“Daven,” Kylix barked.

He forced it back with his teeth clenched so hard his jaw hurt. “Just… he doesn’t get touched.”

“I got the point.” Kylix’s mouth twitched. “But if we let that shuttle lift, they’ll scrub the trail the second it clears the ground. After that, we’re blind. We won’t know if they’ll go off-planet or simply land somewhere else on Helion.”

The hovercar doors hissed open.

Cold air flooded in, thick with metal and fuel. The refinery loomed ahead in layered platforms and steel beams, red hazard lights blinking in steady intervals.

Helianth was already outside with the strike team, one hand resting on the roof as he looked toward the refinery.

“There’s movement in the lower bay,” Yure said through the comm.

Kylix stepped out first. “What’s happening next, Yure?”

“Lights just dipped,” Yure replied at once. “They’re shifting to manual mode. The shuttle hatch is open. I see two captives. They’re getting ready to board. You need to move.”

Kylix didn’t move at first. “Earpieces live,” he said quietly. “Continuous feed. Ryneth, if I say drop, you drop. If I say move, you don’t hesitate.”

Ryneth flinched slightly as the comm in his ear clicked live.

“Vandor, rooftop overwatch. Helianth, rear access. No blind angles.”