Page 41

41

“I can walk faster,” Rose fought to keep the edge from her voice. “Despite my damp, sterilized boots.”

Duke’s smile was humorless. “I’m well aware of that. But a head injury, even a minor one, can spiral fast and that’s not happening on my watch. Just humor me.” He raised a challenging eyebrow, daring her to argue.

That shut her up. Rose gritted her teeth and counted each step down the corridor, the pounding at the back of her head in time with her footfalls. Her legs burned with the urge to run, but with Duke setting a maddeningly slow pace, she restrained herself. Barely.

Her throat burned with rising bile.

This had to be a mistake. Thea might have been reckless, even cruel at times, but this? Triggering explosives while innocent people—while she —was still inside the habitat? It was unthinkable.

Thea had headed for the surface as soon as the bombs were activated.

What the hell is she doing?

Rose attempted to slow her breathing. If Remy was right and the countdown for the explosives was already under forty minutes, there wasn’t time to waste.

They needed to get the Wolves into the water—now.

The dive room door opened. The familiar scent of neoprene and filtered air hit her, triggering memories of her lab back in Bristol, saturated with the mineral tang of cave water. Light reflected off the moon pool’s surface, casting shifting patterns across the ceiling and walls.

Water sloshed at the pool’s edge as MARV circled, waiting. She’d recalled the robotic hybrid as soon as they’d finalized plans.

Ethan, Finn, and Liev were already suiting up. Their wetsuits clung to their muscular legs, black neoprene shining under the fluorescents as they completed their pre-dive safety checks.

No banter. No jokes. Just focused silence.

They worked methodically over their equipment, checking regulators, testing air supplies, verifying comm units. Now, more than ever, there was no room for mistakes. Not with lives on the line.

Ethan glanced up and met her gaze, his eyes holding the weight of what was coming. “Almost ready.”

“Confirm mission plan.” Finn pulled his wetsuit over his carved abs.

“Remy has identified six explosives attached to the hull.” Ethan shrugged on his air tanks. “Detonation in thirty-seven minutes.”

Liev checked his watch, his voice sharp. “Two explosives to deactivate each.”

“Copy that.” Finn synchronized his watch at the same time as Ethan.

Rose did the same. Her watch flashed blue numerals. Thirty-six minutes. “Is that enough time to deactivate six explosives on a habitat this size?”

“We’ve been in tighter corners,” Liev’s serious eyes were dark. “Have faith.”

Rose dropped to her knees at the edge of the moon pool, the ache in her head pulsing. Duke handed her a familiar laptop with a snake sticker on the lid. Gina’s joke from what felt like a lifetime ago. “Thanks.”

Duke winked. “Focus on MARV. Everything else can wait.”

She managed a smile as she connected to MARV, her fingers moving across the keyboard as she ran operational checks. One by one, the systems flickered from orange standby to green.

Her head still felt foggy, but focusing on the diagnostics helped steady her. She pushed down her simmering anger at Thea’s betrayal. Later. Finn and the rest of the Wolves needed her now.

Beside her, Finn dropped to the edge of the pool, his powerful legs dangling into the midnight water as he made final adjustments to his air tanks. Dive knives strapped to each thigh reflected the artificial light, a reminder of what might await in the depths.

“We’re going to make it.” His hands worked with the efficiency of someone who’d done this a hundred times before. “MARV will do its part. We’ll do ours. Simple as that.”

She nodded, trying to match his certainty as she set the laptop down. “MARV will locate the devices, even in zero visibility.”

Finn hesitated at the pool’s edge, then suddenly he cupped her face in his hands. His palms were warm and rough against her skin as he pressed a slow kiss to her lips. Her heart stuttered, caught off guard by the intensity in his touch.

Right there, in front of his team.

When he broke the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers. She drew strength from his touch, the solid feel of him close to her. If anyone could navigate the lightless water and disarm those bombs, it was these men.

“Be careful.” She covered his hands with hers, turned his hand, and kissed his palm.

“We’ll be back before you know it.”

“We’ll take good care of him.” Ethan winked at her across Finn’s shoulders and at last she released him, wrapping her arms around her waist as he slid into the water.

“Set to get wet.” Finn made an okay sign at Liev as he placed his mouthpiece between his lips. Liev tumbled, arrowing down back into the lake. Ethan followed, then Finn, leaving only the noisy slop of water at the pool’s edge to mark their absence.

Rose hurried with her laptop to the bank of three computer screens across the room. Their glow cast shadows as they illustrated a 3D image of the habitat. With numb fingers, she connected MARV to the habitat system. The images flickered and merged into a map. Three blue dots represented the Wolves, while MARV’s yellow marker swept ahead in a search pattern.

Red dots pulsed around the habitat in a deadly constellation, showing the approximate locations of the bombs. On her screen, MARV moved between the red dots, mapping each explosive’s location exactly.

Duke joined her, resting his hand over her white-knuckled grip on the console. “They know what they’re doing.”

God. She hoped so .

“I need to prepare the crew for evacuation. Will you be?—”

She pasted a reassuring smile onto her face. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

The door hissed closed behind him, leaving her alone in the dive room.

She closed her eyes. Please. Keep them safe.

She checked her watch. 30:00.

29:59.

29:58.

The countdown had begun.