“That’s problematic,” Mia agreed grimly. “You two stay here. I’ll do a fast sweep for Cage. If I don’t see him, we’ll head to the docking ring.”

Before we could argue, Mia disappeared. I sighed in exasperation. “Yup,” said Alexei.

I fixed him with a glare. “She’s not the only one with secrets,” I said, dropping my voice to a whisper in case she was still in hearing range. “Why didn’t you tell Mia your uncle wanted her dead?”

Alexei sighed. “It’s not a secret, just not something I want to advertise. Mia already knows my uncle blames her for my family’s deaths. And since I have no intention of giving Grigori what he wants, why worry her?”

I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but at that moment the tablet in Alexei’s hands vibrated. We stared at it. “Is it the hunters?” I asked. “Maybe they realized Mia lifted their device.”

“No.” He frowned, perplexed. “It’s a general call. Targeting the whole station. It keeps cutting out and repeating.”

“Don’t answer. It could be a trap to get us to pick up. I’m sure they can track their own devices.”

Alexei shrugged. “I live dangerously,” he said, and before I could stop him, he activated the link. “Allo?” he said.

“Alexei!” Rune shouted. “Finally!”

“Rune, you’re broadcasting to the entire—”

“I know!” Her voice became shrill, tinged with hysteria. “It was tell everyone or tell no one. They have comms locked down, and I couldn’t access anything but whole-station comms. Come quick! We’re in—”

Her voice cut off with a burst of static.

TWENTY-THREE

ALEXEI WAS ALREADY ON HIS feet. “Find Mia,” he snapped.

Mia popped into view a few feet away. “Right here. What’s going on?”

“Rune just contacted me. She didn’t say much before the signal cut out.”

Mia swore creatively and at some length. “I knew it! What did I tell you?”

“Yes, that’s very helpful.” Alexei stormed into the crowd, catching our elbows to pull us along with him, apparently not at all concerned about the bounty hunters as he dragged us into the marketplace. I stumbled after him, my gaze fixed on the crowd, watching for a flash of silver.

Mia glared at him and shook loose. “Did Rune give you any idea where she was?”

“The comms cut out too quickly. Probably good, because wherever she is, the whole station heard her.”

I tugged free of Alexei and found myself running to keep up. “I guess we start in the docking ring, assuming you know where that is.”

“I do.”

“How many bounty hunters are there?” I asked as the three of us pushed our way through the crowds. I caught a glimpse of the men I’d elbowed earlier, thankfully on the other side of the market, and pulled my hood more closely around my face. Still no sign of the Silver Oni, or of his two partners.

“Five I’ve seen,” said Mia.

“Teams of four or five are standard,” I confirmed.