Chapter 7 · Silent Drift

"Kill the radio, Captain. Now."

Lyra's hand clamped over Cassian's before he could reach for the transmitter switch. Her fingers were cold, but her grip was brutal. The tips dug into his knuckles as the ironclad slid through the black water without a working engine.

Cassian looked down at her hand, then at her blind eyes. "Take your hand off me."

"If you turn that transmitter on, every cartel boat in twenty miles will hear us breathe."

"The radio is already dead."

"No. You killed the signal. That's different."

The helm shuddered beneath them.

Cassian caught the wheel with his free hand. The ship answered late, dragging its steel belly through the trench. Somewhere below, metal scraped against stone. The sound crawled up through the deck and settled in his teeth.

Lyra did not flinch. She kept holding him.

"You said the silent drift would last three minutes," Cassian said.

"I said three minutes if your engineer stopped lying to you."

From behind the sealed engine hatch, Brant yelled, "I can hear you, you know!"

"Good," Cassian called back. "Then hear this.