“He’s on his way,” she said, and exhaled. “Another few minutes.”
She didn’t put into words the rushing relief she felt that her brother was okay. Instead, she cleaned up the mess her mother had made and then went into the kitchen to make fresh tea. There was nothing more to do while they waited. If she didn’t do something with her hands, she’d go crazy.
The tea took little time to boil and steep. Arden set the tray down on the coffee table, sat next to Colin, and poured herself a cup, again at a loss for what to do.
Colin whispered so Uri couldn’t hear. “This shit is only getting worse.”
“I know.”
“If the govies turn up the heat, then Niall is only going to get more aggressive about his insane plan.”
Arden nodded.
“If you leave, I’ll go with you,” he said. There was a plea in his voice that hit her in the gut.
Arden watched Uri continue to pace. She considered Colin’s offer for half a second. Then guilt and family solidarity kicked in. “I can’t.” She hated herself for saying it. “You know we can’t.”
Colin frowned but nodded, not looking her in the eye.
The front door opened, and Niall walked in with Kimber. His entrance was loud and clunky, and he didn’t look happy. They both appeared a bit strung out, their eyes glassy, pupils blown. Niall took in the room at a glance. Then he walked over and set down a smallish package on the coffee table. Arden knew that if she looked inside, she’d see at least thirty disks of Shine.
Her parents’ drug use had spiraled in the last few months. Where once a box this size would last her parents a month or more, now it wasn’t lasting the week.
Instead of being relieved that Niall had arrived, Arden found that her anxiety grew. With the way he looked, this could get ugly. Niall wasn’t known for his gentleness and understanding.
She set down her mug. Pushing her shoulders back, she steeled herself for a fight. She’d faced worse.
Niall pulled out his datapad, turning it so they could see the screen, and pressed “Play” on a news-vid from Club Doom. There was smoke from the percussion bombs and chaos everywhere. Lines of govies stood shoulder to shoulder outside of the building in their govie-greens and riot gear, clear shields in front of them, stun-sticks at the ready.
Watching the scene made Uri go crazy again, his muttering louder now. He didn’t seem to be paying attention to any of them. He kept hitting things. His knuckles now raw pieces of meat, splattering blood on the furniture.
Niall focused on Arden and Colin. Colin’s anger at Uri had long fizzled out, replaced by an ache that felt palpable.
“How much did you mess up?” Niall asked. He directed the question to both of them, but she knew he was really asking her.
Arden wanted to argue that the raid couldn’t possibly be their fault. She bit that back, though. She had been in charge of the op. And she should have been paying better attention. She’d failed her team. She deserved to be reamed out, or worse. Her performance was unforgivable.
Out with it. Pull it off like a quick-seal.
“The govies took Mariah,” she said.
Niall’s jaw bulged back and forth as he ground his teeth. He narrowed his eyes at Arden, saying to her, “I left you in charge.”
She felt every bit of the weight of the criticism. The words hit like phase-fire to the dead center of her heart. Her breath stuttered, and she lowered her eyes, not knowing what to say. Whatever she said would be an excuse.
“Did you see her taken?”
And there was the crux.
Arden shook her head, looking at him. “I wasn’t there. Uri and Colin were surrounded.”
Kimber made a noise that sounded like a disbelieving snort.
As much as she felt guilty, that angered Arden. Who was Kimber to pass judgment? She narrowed her eyes at the other girl, silently daring her to speak, or better yet, to say something later when they were alone.
“It’s not Arden’s fault,” Colin said. “You know how it is in the clubs. We’re not always together.”
Niall frowned, neither forcing the issue nor letting Arden off the hook. “If Mariah has been taken, we have a limited window before they transfer her outbound.”
If that happened, they’d never have the opportunity to save her. She’d be lost to them. Arden didn’t want to imagine the torture they’d inflict on Mariah. It was better to focus on what they could do at this moment than the “what ifs” if they failed.
Kimber cleared her throat. “Staging a rescue would jeopardize our plans for the next shipment. We can’t do that.”
Uri growled, throwing a lamp. It smashed against the far wall. Arden didn’t flinch, knowing the projectile wouldn’t hit her. Still, it set her heart to racing.
“We have to think in terms of survival,” Kimber pressed on, seemingly unconcerned with Uri’s outburst and not even reacting to any of the animosity Colin and Arden were throwing her way. “We can’t sacrifice everything for one person. Mariah knew the risks. She shouldn’t have allowed herself to get caught.”
Uri redirected his rage at Kimber. If he looked scary before, now he looked downright lethal. He took several steps toward her before Colin stood up to stop him. Niall stepped in to shield her as well, blocking her from Uri’s line of sight.
Arden feared they wouldn’t have much usable furniture left if this kept up. Or that Kimber would be choked, but that wouldn’t be too bad. She deserved it. Still, they needed to get this conversation back on track.
“I’m going to rescue Mariah,” she announced. It was, after all, her fault.
“I’m with you,” Colin said, glaring daggers at Kimber.
Arden wasn’t surprised by Colin’s easy willingness to throw himself into danger alongside her. She was grateful even. Though that only increased the pressure to make this work. Or else she’d feel even worse.
Kimber huffed and flicked her hair. “I’m just saying, we need to look at this logically. How are we going to rescue her so close to the next heist? We don’t have the manpower, for one. And an operation that size takes time to plan.”
“I don’t care about that.” Uri turned to them, eyes blazing. “I want Mariah.”
“We know,” Niall said. He made no effort to falsely sooth Uri. “It’s your op. How do you want to run this?”
Uri seethed. “We need to go in there with our phasers and take the bastards out. Mariah is all that matters.”
“I said I’d get her,” Arden said, standing and squaring off against the group. “That makes this my op.” She turned to Uri. “Get a grip on yourself. If I can’t trust that you’ll maintain control, I can’t trust you to have my back. And I will not put myself in danger because you can’t focus.”
That seemed to be the shot of cold water Uri needed. He finally backed down, his shoulders slumping. He blew a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry.”
Arden walked over and placed her hand on Uri’s back. “We’ll rescue Mariah. I promise. We just need to figure out how.”