“How long ago was the attack on the Belt?” I realized I hadn’t asked that yet.
“Two weeks.”
“Then we might have time. Did Elise know the location of the Venus operation?” I glanced at Octavia, and she stared back blankly.
“What does my sister have to do with anything? Of course she does. Her people volunteered to guard it—” Her eyes darted open wider. “Are you suggesting…?”
“Not yet, but the—”
“Hawk, Jinx is picking up a signal from Titan. He’s linked to some underground covert mining channel. Says there are people.”
“Finally, some good news. Maybe there’s a witness,” Luther offered.
“Varn, lead the way.” I followed Killer as we flew for Titan. The city beyond the dome was a mess. The dome was cracked, and half of the boxy dense city was gone. Whatever had attacked had used a lot of firepower.
Jinx had lived in that city, and I wondered what he was feeling at the sight of his home’s destruction.
We continued to the mines, which were only a short distance from Titan’s primary city. Killer settled to the surface, and I went directly beside him. No readings were present on the radar. Either every single craft was gone, or someone had done a great job blocking the signals.
“Stay here. Luther and I will join the others,” I told them.
Barnes came to my side, and I shook my head. “If anything happens to me, you take this ship and go to Primary City. I have a feeling that’s where the perpetrator is.”
“What makes you say that?” Barnes asked.
“Call it a hunch.” I left, hating that I was leaving Holland and Jade behind. But they would be safer here than on the surface of Titan.
We suited up and exited Pilgrim. Aster, Jinx, and Varn were there. “Shouldn’t one of you have stayed on board?”
“Just give us a hand.” Varn was at the mine’s entrance, and the ice had been shot up, half covering the entrance. We set to work, dragging chunks of the surface ice away. The doors were battered, but we found enough space between them to climb through.
Jinx was the first across. He’d been patched up since Sara’s attack, but I could tell he was still in pain. I also sensed his urgency at helping his own people. He’d lived here for most of his life.
“Jinx, where are they?” I asked. The mine entrance led us down a decline, into the surface. We’d found extremely rare raw materials under Titan’s ice, but after a few decades, the same substances had been discovered in other regions, and the cost of mining was far less, making this mine more of a headache than a benefit. They still kept it open despite all this, for the mere fact that the city and workers were already available.
“Seven Egress Nine,” Jinx said. That meant nothing to me, but he seemed to know his way. We followed him, casting lights from our weapons to guide us. The entire mining facility had gone dark, and the walls felt like they were closing in on me the deeper we went.
“I doubt they would have seen much down here,” Aster said.
“Maybe, or maybe not. They have cameras on the surface, and ones linked to the station,” Jinx said.
“Isn’t that illegal?” Aster asked.
“Define ‘illegal’. You mean, does the Board not want them to have access to the Board-funded cameras on the station? Then yes, it’s not legal.” Jinx kept his pace.
“How did they link to them?” I asked.
Jinx chuckled. “Take a guess.”
“You did it.” I laughed. “Jinx, you never did trust the Corps. If it gave these guys information about the opposition, I owe you a beer.”
Jinx stopped at an entrance and turned to face me. “I hate to break it to you, but I prefer whiskey.”
The doors were shut, and he tugged on the handle. It didn’t budge. Luther and Aster took turns, until they realized they could pull together. It slowly hinged open.
“Hello!” I called, stepping over a fallen container. My light landed on a body. The man was dead. I saw more unmoving figures. My gaze settled on someone, his eyes open. He was the guy who’d talked Varn’s and my ears off when we picked up Jinx. His wife was close by, her arm wrapped under his.
Jinx’s shoulders slumped with his spacesuit, and he crouched at one of the bodies, rolling her over. “The place was too rundown. A single blast probably cracked the air seal.”
The room had low ceilings, and there were old computer screens on the right. I pointed at the desk. “Can you still check the recordings?”
Jinx gawked at the scene. He’d known most of them.
“Let me try.” Aster rushed over, powering up the program. I watched as she played through them. We finally found the ones we wanted. The station was visible. The camera showed the docking bay, where a Sage transport vessel was attached. The screen went blank.
“Aster, don’t do that!” Jinx shouted. “You almost deleted the footage.” He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her from the chair. “Couldn’t you have let me grieve for a quick moment before tampering with the evidence?” He went to it, his gloved fingers flying across the keypad. “There it is.”
The station had been attacked. Not by Velibar. Not by the Hidan.
“Liberty.” I said the name and felt like a fool for the second time in a month.
“It was Eclipse.” Luther punched the door, the sound of the impact ringing through the room. “She’s screwed us.”
“It all adds up,” I said. “The pinpoints of her communications with Preston. The Wastes, Primary City, the various Primaries. She was working everyone. Trying to gather forces.”
Varn instantly went after Aster, grabbing for her Widowmaker. She shoved him off and aimed the weapon at him. “Aren’t you with Liberty?” he shouted from the ground.
“I was from the Wastes; that’s my home!” She shifted the gun’s aim from Varn to Jinx, then to Luther. “I’m not with Eclipse.”
I appraised her, seeing her eyes darting behind the clear visor of her
