"How long have we been in?" Elias asked after what felt like hours of driving.
"Long enough," Zubair replied, his voice tight and clipped. The only thing that comforted him was the fact that the gas needle never dropped since they left the highway.
Apparently, time didn't matter. The only clock that mattered here was the engine and the rules of the world outside, and those rules had already bent once today.
They found a straight run.
Zubair let the truck breathe. It pulled clean. He glanced at the gauge again. The needle twitched a hair and then returned where it had been.
"The jet blend holds," Alexei said, more acknowledgment than praise.
"Sera?" Lachlan asked.
"Taking what I find," she replied with a shrug. "If they are dumb enough to leave it lying around, I'm smart enough to take it. I really can't be blamed for the Cartel's inability to protect what was theirs, now can I?"
The track they were on rose as they climbed a small hill.
