Yeah, I fantasize about one of those too.
“How about some breakfast?” Luk looked at his watch, tossing his towel into a basket. “The canteen just opened.”
“Sounds good. I’m starving.” I copied his throw into the laundry basket.
“Wait, wait.” A woman’s voice spun us around to see Kek strolling in the door, her blue hair loose and messy, with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand. “Did I miss you two rolling around together? All hot and sweaty and moaning... Can we rewind, please? I think you need to reenact every move. Without clothes.”
Both Luk and I huffed in amusement, our eyes rolling.
“You don’t even have to pretend to enjoy it. Actually, it would be hotter.” She twirled her fingers, telling us to return to the mat.
“Why don’t you go instead?” Luk indicated to her. “Be my guest.”
“Look, I have no problem rolling around naked with her.” Kek nodded to me, then scanned him up and down. “Or you... or even better, both at one time. But I don’t work out. It’s like pointless foreplay for demons. Plus, it’s against my religion.”
“You’re a demon; you don’t have a religion,” I quipped.
“Exactly!” Kek pushed back the strands of hair in her face like they annoyed her. “Just being me is enough. Show me assholes who need to be taken down right then, I’m your girl, but I don’t ‘fake’ fight or get sweaty unless there’s a point.”
“How about breakfast instead?” Lukas asked.
“How about breakfast then sex, pretty boy?” Kek padded his toned chest. “I swear I could change your mind.”
“I doubt it.” He pushed past her, heading for the door. “I really crave sausage for breakfast.”
Chapter 3
We barely made it ten steps before a crackle sounded from above, a voice coming from a speaker. “Attention! First Unit, report for debriefing in ops room as soon as possible. I repeat, First Unit report to ops room for debriefing.” There was a slight pause. “Also report to the briefing, new member X.”
A buzz of activity came from the canteen across the way, a few people jogging out, and I saw Tracker instantly respond, grabbing his items and leaving the gym area.
“That’s us.” Luk tapped my arm. “We’ve got to go.”
“Me?”
“You’re X, right?” Luk started to turn the opposite way, waving me on. “Come on.”
“Better go, little lamb.” Kek flicked her head to follow Luk. “Looks like your test day is already here.”
“Test day?”
“Prove your loyalty to the cause,” Kek spoke over her shoulder, heading for the canteen. “Try not to die. Hate to think I spent so much energy saving your bony ass for it to die now.”
“Come on!” Luk yelled back to me, my feet moving to catch up with him, anxiety over what was going to happen tapping at the pulse in my neck.
Lukas directed me upstairs, forgoing the elevator. It was only a floor up, but the moment we pushed out onto the top floor, fatigue punched me in the gut, curving me over and rendering me breathless.
What the hell? What was going on with me? Bakos used to make us do five hundred steps twice a day. It had to be the chloroform. That stuff had wicked aftereffects. Still, I shouldn’t be this tired suddenly.
“You okay?” Luk peered back at me.
“Yeah, fine.” I forced a smile on my face, pushing through the heavy sensation.
“We’ll get some food before we head out wherever we’re going.”
“Where are we going?”
“About to find out.” He turned into a room, me right on his tail. It had a large table and creaky metal chairs. A screen was pulled down where a detailed map of what looked like a train station in Prague was projected.
Tracker, Ava, Blade, Sab, and two others I didn’t know were already settling in around the table when we walked in.
Mykel’s eyes slid to me, giving me a nod, affirming he wanted me present.
Luk and I took our seats. No one was really talking, but the room buzzed with energy and murmurs.
My uncle stepped up to the head of the table, in full Kaptain mode. A pretty but stern-looking woman on his right side handed him a file.
“We just got word from our scouts in the city there is a huge cargo shipment coming in. Someone on the inside has relayed back to us that whatever the train is carrying from Budapest is important enough for the prime minister to want his personal guards to be there.”
Train from Budapest? A sinking sensation plunged into my stomach.
“Last time, we were too late to intercede, and the spies inside Leon’s camp could not find out what the shipment was, only it was extremely valuable to him.”
Dread wiggled deeper into my gut, twinging with the notion I knew exactly what was in the cargo, though the claim of my knowledge stuck in my throat. I didn’t know for sure if it was the pills. I also wasn’t absolutely sure I could trust Mykel. He wasn’t like Andris. If he found out about them, would he want to use them as well?
“The station is going to be heavily guarded, but it is still open to civilians. While they are unloading this cargo, passengers will be getting on for the return journey.”
We were lucky in this part of the world that we had a functioning rail system at all, but there were very limited trains, most working double duty for passengers and cargo.
“Blade, Sab, Lea, and Jak, I want you guys on all exits.” Mykel indicated to the two I didn’t know and turned to the map on the screen, the slide switching to a floorplan of the train station. “Tracker, Ava, you are going to cause a distraction on the opposite platform, while Luk and X... ” He looked straight at me, and once again, I could see so much of my father in him. It was the look I got when he challenged me to not let him down. “You two will try to steal it... at the very least find out what it is.”
“Steal?” I was a little stunned he wanted me on the most precarious part of the job. Not that I wasn’t perfect for it. Stealing was my favorite pastime. “Me?”
“It’s sink or swim here,” he replied sternly. “We don’t have time to coddle you. Every day, more and more people die in poverty or are killed because of who they are. The war is on our doorstep. Are you in or out?”
I glanced around the room of strangers, their gazes giving me no support. But then I felt Luk’s fingers squeeze my knee, telling me he’d be right by my side. This was someone who was fighting against his own mother for what was right.
“I’m in.”
Something resembling pride flickered in Mykel’s eyes, his head dipping. I felt like I had passed the first half of the test.
“The train comes in at twelve-fifteen p.m. on platform six.”
That meant the train would have left at 4:45 a.m. from Budapest. The exact train I used to lie in wait for, pushing the two minutes and twenty seconds I had to rob it.
“Departing in twenty minutes, with an hour drive, will land you at the train station at half-past eleven, giving you time to evaluate and scope out the guards, exits, and situation. There is also the possibility the train will change arrival platforms,” Kaptain stated. “Is everyone clear about their role?”