Page 108 of Deadfall

“What?” My teeth ground together as my jaw tightened.

“Yeah, but she obviously didn't do it,” Seven chuckled. “God, it was spectacular.”

I nodded and fiddled with my belt. The buckle was caked with so much mud it was nearly impossible to undo. I gave up and leaned heavily against the counter in the kitchenette.

“So, Octavius is coming,” Seven said.

I turned on the sink. “Sounds like it.”

I scrubbed my forearms, but there was so much mud I only succeeded in making a mess. Seven sighed and leaned around to shut the water off.

“That’s not helping,” he grumbled. “What are we going to do? Do you think Mahoney is going to give her to Octavius this weekend?”

“What? Like some sort of fucked up birthday gift?”

“Well, yeah—” Seven said.

“It’s possible.”

Seven leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest as he glared across the room. I knew he was looking at the tablet on the wall.

“Rune will break through.”

“I know,” he sighed. “He’s just taking his sweet ass time about it.”

Neither one of us wanted to think about what could be happening back home. Like the possibility of the mole having figured out where we were, and sabotaging Rune. We were relying on him for exfil, but as our time ran out, it was beginning to look like we needed a secondary plan.

“It’ll be a week tomorrow,” Seven muttered.

“If Rune doesn’t reach out by then, we will make a move,” I admitted. “We’ll have to.”

“A move?” Seven looked at me dryly, amusement in his eyes. “Like what? Steal a plane? We’re on a fucking island—” He saw the look on my face and barked out a laugh. “Oh my god, you want to steal a jet. Okay, I’ll start Googling how to fly. I knew I should have gotten my pilot’s license.”

“What are you good for again?” I asked dryly.

He bumped my shoulder playfully. “Moral support.”

I hummed skeptically and his grin widened. “My killer personality?”

I couldn’t help the twitch of a grin and scrunched my nose.

“Aw, come on, it has to be how funny I am then.”

“You do provide comedy, that’s for sure,” I chuckled.

Something loosened in my chest and while I couldn’t exactly relax, the tension from the earlier engagement was gone. Seven shook his head with a grin and gently shoved my shoulder.

“Whatever. Now, get out of the kitchen so I can make our girl some food.”

50

EMERSYN

I locked the bathroom door behind me and even though I knew nothing would stop those two if they wanted to get in, that wasn’t what occupied my mind. Something far more serious had my thoughts racing into overdrive.

Octavius was coming here.

I turned on the shower and the hot water quickly steamed up the room. I took a moment to revel in it before I stepped into the water’s scalding embrace. Absent-mindedly, I grabbed the soap.