When they reached the bottom, she blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the darkness. It was empty, their breathing the only sound. Her heart sank, but then she shook away the disappointment. Even if Kohl wasn’t here, they could find something to help track him down.
A few of the windows above let in moonlight that illuminated the space. Unused or broken machinery spread around the room in a sort of maze. A single wooden door was in the far corner of the basement. Rows of cots lined two of the walls, dust swirling in the moonlight above them. In the dark corners were boxes of what might be supplies or weapons.
She pointed to one of the boxes, and Teo moved forward to check it. But before he got more than a few steps, the door in the corner creaked open.
Aina threw herself behind one of the tall textile machines that stood near the stairway. Teo squeezed in next to her a moment later while Raurie and Ryuu hid behind another machine.
Torchlight shone through the door as three men entered, their footsteps echoing off the basement floor. Through the door, Aina could make out the rocky, rough-hewn walls of a tunnel. Her hand gripped her knife so tightly, she thought she might break the handle, but Kohl wasn’t part of the group. One of the men’s sleeves were rolled up to show the tattoo of a Jackal’s open jaw. They left the door open, and slow-moving footsteps sounded from farther down the tunnel—more people coming.
When Ryuu squeezed a little bit more behind the machine, his shoes squeaked on the floor and one of the Jackals looked up.
“Thought I heard something,” he mumbled, his voice carrying in the quiet.
“Rats,” said one of the other Jackals in a dismissive tone. “You got what we need from the Blood King?”
Aina stiffened at those words, leaning forward around the machine as far as she dared to see what this could be. The other Jackal nodded and flashed something in his pocket. Its smooth surface glinted in the torchlight, but he put it away so quickly, Aina couldn’t tell what it was.
“How many more of these shipments will Bautix be doing?” the third one hissed, casting a quick glance upward as if he feared someone could hear them. “Feels like we’re getting a new one every other day.”
“He has to wait for the smuggler from Kaiyan to return to act,” the first one said. “These shipments, they’re smaller parts of a whole that the smuggler is sending in before his return.”
A minute of silence passed, punctuated only by labored breathing and the still-approaching footsteps coming from the tunnel. Then, four more men entered carrying two heavy boxes between them—and none of them bore Jackal tattoos. The Jackals stepped aside to let the men pass, then stood with their backs to the door they’d all come through.
The third Jackal’s eyes flicked up once more, and this time, Aina followed his gaze to the manager’s office on the second floor. Three figures had stepped into the light, and Aina cursed herself for not checking that room before. She squinted, trying to make them out, when one of the Jackals on this floor spoke again.
“You’ve all been very helpful, bringing this delivery,” he announced to the men who’d carried in the crates. One of the crates was slightly open, and Aina could make out the edge of a grenade and the barrel of a gun. “I have your payment right here.”
Then, he pulled out from his pocket what he’d shown the other Jackals before, something from Kohl. The glass sphere shone brightly under the torchlight, with a clear liquid inside, smoke rising off it and fogging the inside of the sphere. Aina’s breath caught, and she beckoned the others to retreat with her toward the stairs leading out of the basement.
Before any of the men who’d brought the weapons could do more than lean forward to see what the Jackal was showing them, the Jackal threw the sphere on the ground and it shattered. Smoke rose into the air as the Jackals vanished into the side door and slammed it shut behind them. A lock sounded.
“Run!” Aina whispered back to her friends as soon as they reached the steps.
“They tricked us, those goddess-forsaken bastards!” shouted one of the men who’d brought the weapons.
He ran to the door the Jackals had left through and began pounding on it, but it wouldn’t break, even when he slammed his body into it. Risking a glance over her shoulder as they raced up the stairs, Aina watched as one of the other men collapsed on the floor. His eyes stared glass-like at the ceiling, the shadows of machinery towering over him while Kohl’s poison choked the air.
“What kind of poison is that?” Raurie asked as the other two men reached the staircase and began racing toward them.
“Move!” one of the smugglers shouted behind Aina, pushing so hard she almost fell off the stairs. Ryuu grabbed her by the elbow to stop her fall while Teo caught up to the smuggler, yanked him back from the top step, and shoved him off the side of the stairs. They reached the first floor, the whole factory dark except the light from the second-floor managers’ office. The three people there began to turn away, and the glint of a diamond earring caught Aina’s eye.
The fluorescent light revealed the man’s face: a tightly coiled red beard, starkly pale skin on a chiseled face, and sharp blue eyes. “Bautix,” Aina whispered as he lifted his chin at her in a taunting gesture.
She’d make him tell her where Kohl was hiding—and then she’d slit his throat. The last smuggler fled to the nearest door. He tried to shove it open, but something outside blocked the exit. They were trapped, and the poison would drift up to the factory’s main floor in seconds if they didn’t move. Aina raced to the next flight of stairs, with Teo, Ryuu, and Raurie right behind her. Teo fired into the window on the second floor. It shattered, spraying glass everywhere, and the three men inside ducked. But Bautix hardly looked shaken—he stood straight, facing them with an amused grimace on his face.
They reached the second floor just as Bautix vanished through a door in the back. The two men with him, most likely Jackals, lifted their guns.
Aina slammed her back into the wall, dodging the first shot. Ryuu fired back, one of his bullets hitting and instantly killing a Jackal.
Before the second Jackal could shoot them, Aina leapt through the window and knocked the gun out of his hand. It skidded across the floor, and Raurie put a knife to the man’s throat a breath later. Aina raced out the door to find Bautix.
The door led to a hallway that passed through the back offices. The hallway was drafty, with all the windows open, and a sudden wind brought goose bumps to her skin. She raced down the hall, checking through each door, but there was no staircase to the other floors, and Bautix wasn’t in any of the rooms. She ran to the fire escape instead, but didn’t see him anywhere on it, nor on any of the surrounding streets.
She slammed her fist on the railing. It may have been years since he’d actually fought in Sumerand’s army, but clearly the skills hadn’t left him.
A moment later, Teo, Raurie, and Ryuu joined her on the fire escape, their shoes clanging against the metal surface. “Bautix is gone,” Aina said, her voice harsh. “This was a waste of time. Kohl wasn’t here, and now this hideout is compromised. They won’t stay here anymore.”
In silence, they left the warehouse by the fire escape and circled back to the front to meet Tannis and Lill. As they did, Kohl’s words came back to Aina, calling her a broken blade that couldn’t do its job and needed to be thrown out. She curled her hands into fists, knuckles straining.