Page 12 of Caged By the Ruthless Thief

At my normal strength, I can tune out others’ thoughts. But now they come at me, conflicting and strong.

He’s going to feed the kraken.

No, he’s going to come back and dismantle the whole place.

You’ll see what he can do...

I don’t answer. They’re all wrong. Oh, I believe I can come back, but right now all I want is to go get Annabelle.

I’m deep enough to know that the thick layers of rock cut off the noise from above. It’s dark, but my eyes are adjusting. Keeping my eyes closed for so long has enhanced my night vision. My time in the hole in the bottom of the government building they threw me in only strengthened my fortitude. I’m not going to let the Arg-leth get to me.

In the first layers of the chasm, things change. The water warms, and the mineral rocks of the side walls are no longer coral. During the reprieve I had when the governors were playing their public relations game, I took time with borrowed blocks and studied. I even studied an extensive report that Bass sent Holter. Now I only have to find the right tools and get the trident.

5

EROS

The light in my long-rangesolois off. I strap my infrared goggles to my head. The harness of my seat rests firmly over my shoulders. I expect maneuvering in the chasm to get tricky. All there is to do now is wait. I’ve been in position for a long while, long enough the verification sensors wouldn’t have been placed before I got here.

A blip on my screen shows they’re letting Nico out now. My heart matches the flashing of his icon. Thanks to the security council, I’ve got the latest shielding tech on mysolo—tech I’ve altered so even they can’t see me.

I’ve been mulling over who might’ve given me the kill order. There are five governors on the security council, along with the king. It’s not King Atlas—he’s been missing too long. Which leaves the governors of Vitrom, Tinom, Braesen, Koralli, or Stele. My gut says it’s not Braesen or Koralli. The obvious choice is Tinom. They hate Glyden, and giving an order to kill one of their heroes wouldn’t be hard. But it’s too obvious, which leaves Stele or Vitrom.

Then again, who it is doesn’t fundamentally matter. Right now, I need to be on the lookout for all of them. There’ll be someone out there whose job it is to kill me. That’s the way things work around here. You’re used until you’re no longer useful.

My vehicle rocks to the right. Things down here are tiny or huge; there’s nothing in-between. I hit the stabilizers, and the ship rights itself. Hiding cloaked in the chasm’s depths isn’t the worst thing I’ve done. Still, my heart is pounding on the inside of my ribcage while sweat gathers on my collarbone.

Thud.

I’m bumped the other way, and across the front of my viewports, a giant eel slithers around. I want to push out the prongs and give it a little shove, but my orders are to be radio silent until theomada aguvan bajeskåfis away.

Fucking security council. I’m never going to be done with them.

This time something hits the top of thesolo, and it hangs over the front of the windshield. I cock my head.What the hell?It slides over the edge of the sub, sinking, inching, slithering lifelessly off. Reflexively, I lean forward, trying to see what’s going on. The infrared illuminates the far wall, the rocky crevasses lifeless at these upper levels.

I’m shaken again, but this time it’s not an eel. It’s Nico with a sharpened rock in his hand. His fist comes at the glass.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

From inside thesolo, I can’t communicate with him to let him know I’m not trying to kill him. Our telepathy requires us to be in the water to work. Fucking hell. I turn thesoloon and sink deeper, pulling Nico with me. He’s stopped trying to smash the window. From what I can tell, he’s too busy trying to hang on like a bandit.

But if he was a bandit, I would use the electrocution tongs. Or shake him off, throwing him into the cavern wall. He’s neither.

I’m down far enough now that I hope if I use the communication device, no one can hear. Because that would be the end for both of us. As it is, when I rise out of the chasm, I’m not certain whether or not there’ll be someone waiting to take me out and throw my corpse back in. I can’t risk more than one word. There’s a chance no one outside of the chasm will hear, but if anyone does, they’ll know it wasn’t him. I could be exposed. But I’ll have to take the risk. If he hits thesolowith that super rock a couple more times, it won’t matter that the windshield is supposed to be uncrackable. It’s going to shatter.

I’ll say one word, and I know just the word to say.

6

NICO

I’m holding on to the antenna of the modifiedsolo. It’s fucking dark. Thesolo’sbottom lights illuminate below us. There are bioluminescent fish darting around near the trench walls. Lantern fish and others.

But mostly I can make out the shape of it. It’s changed. We didn’t even have anything this nice on theCentauri. The shielding is such that if the mega eel hadn’t gotten me, the vessel’s electrified pincers would have.

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