“Going to be tough to bring the airship over the base and have it hover,” said Kaz. “There’s no way we’ll be able to get cargo up and down the lines.”
Zoya lifted a hand, settling warmth and calm around them as the wind stilled. “That won’t be a problem once I’m aboard.”
“Be as subtle as you can,” instructed Nikolai. “We don’t want the guards realizing they’re in the eye of a storm.”
“Somehow I’ll manage it.”
Hoofbeats signaled the arrival of two riders.
“We have a problem,” said Jesper, sliding from his horse with ease. Wylan dismounted slowly, clearly less accustomed to the task. “They’ve locked down the goods.”
“How?” asked Kaz.
“There’s some kind of new metal shell they’ve installed, protects cargo from the elements.”
Zoya frowned. “Titanium doesn’t rust.”
“But there’s other cargo in the yard on base,” said Kaz. “Iron. Potentially lumber that will rot if it gets wet. They used to just secure everything with tarps, but I guess the military is getting more particular.”
“This wasn’t part of the intelligence you gathered?” Zoya asked, her temper rising.
“It must have been installed in the last three weeks. And when you rush a job, you don’t get to complain when the job goes wrong.”
“You take your time or you take your chances,” said Jesper.
“And I don’t take chances,” added Kaz.
Zoya flicked her braid over her shoulder. “You’re telling me you can’t get past a metal roof?”
“Of course I can. But with a bigger crew. This isn’t a bank vault, it’s a military base. If Jesper and Wylan are handling the watchtowers, I’ll need to get inside, locate whatever mechanism opens the shell, and get it to work without anyone in the base noticing. We don’t know where the guards are posted inside or what kind of alarms are rigged up. Assuming we could even get inside, we’d need time to suss it out and at least two lookouts.”
“Surely the greatest thief in Ketterdam can outthink such a problem,” said Nikolai.
“I’m not susceptible to flattery, only stacks of cash. This can’t be done, not if you want it quiet and bloodless. If you’re willing to take out a few guards or let Wylan blow a hole in this thing—”
“No,” said Nikolai firmly. “Ravka’s relationship with Kerch is strained enough. I don’t want to give them an excuse to ditch their neutrality and use the izmars’ya to help Fjerda break my blockade.”
“If Inej were here—” said Jesper.
Kaz’s gaze was hard as flint. “You can keep saying that, but she isn’t. The best we can do is wait. I can get two more Dregs here by tomorrow. Anika. Rotty, maybe.”
A high wail sounded from somewhere in the distance, a shrill cry that might be human or animal or something else entirely. Zoya felt a chill pass through her that had nothing to do with the cold. This place isn’t meant for us. She felt it in her bones.
“Saints,” said Jesper, “what was that?”
Another wail followed, long and piercing. The fog seemed to seethe around them, forming shapes that melted into nothing before Zoya could truly make them out.
Jesper set his hands on his revolvers. “These cliffs are supposed to be haunted.”
“You don’t actually believe that,” said Wylan.
“I believe in all kinds of things. Ghosts. Gnomes. True love.”
Now another sound—a low hiss—seemed to crawl up from the sea, rising and falling in undulating waves. Zoya felt it like fingers brushing up her spine, making the hair on her arms rise.
“Enough,” she snapped. She’d had all she could stand of this Saintsforsaken country. She lifted her hands and the fog rolled back in a gust—revealing a circle of people around them, some of them in jackal masks, others with dark scarves pulled up to hide their faces. Moonlight glinted off the barrels of their guns.
“Suli,” whispered Jesper.
“You’re not welcome in this place,” said a gruff voice. It was impossible to tell which side of the circle it had come from. That same low, crawling hiss followed.
“We don’t mean any harm,” Jesper began.
“That’s why you snuck up on our camp in the dead of night?”
“We should let the sea have them,” said another voice. “Send them screaming over the cliff tops.”