Far below, the beach was little more than a sliver of sand, bright and slender as a crescent moon. Waves broke against thickets of white rocks, jagged, hulking phantoms gathered at the shore as if to stand vigil. They’re guarding this place, Zoya thought. No boat was meant to find safe harbor here. And we’re not meant to be here either. If the beach outside the naval base was anything like this, Zoya could see why no one attempted to approach from the water. The wind howled over the cliffs, a mournful chorus.

“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 watch- towers, 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.