Tofi took the controller, and every kid in the room locked onto the screen. Juno merely folded her arms. Wang lingered by the hatch, peeking in from a corner. Tofi threaded the moves flawlessly and slipped into the Russian church without getting shredded by the Nazi snipers. Applause burst out. Alya was grinning—now he could finally hunt for Saint Sergius’s chalice.

  “Not bad, gutter rat… I’m impressed,” Alya said. “What’s your name?”

  “Tofías Orantek,” the boy answered.

  “Good. Where’d you learn to play?”

  “In Carpatos. My mother and her brother ran an inn on the pass into the mountains. I met travelers from everywhere. One of them gave me a whole collection.”

  “Really? My mother runs a tavern by one of the canal gates in Ebinizia… famous for fried fish,” Alya said.

  “I know. I’d heard about it. Your mom’s fried fish was legend among folks coming from there.”

  Alya smiled. Juno looked at Tofi like he was something she’d scrape off her boot.

  “Juno tells me you want in with the crew,” Alya said. “Give me three reasons you’re worth it.”

  “Maybe because he’s an ass-kissing cocksucker,” Juno muttered.

  Snickers rippled around them.

  “I’m hungry,” Tofi said evenly. “I know Assassin’s Creed, like you just saw.”

  “That’s two,” Alya said. “A third.”

  “I’m a hacker. I can crack anything.”

  Silence fell.

  “I already have a hacker. And he’s good—right, Berry?” Alya asked the pudgy kid who’d just arrived.

  “How much do you actually know?” Berry said, stepping in, looking Tofi up and down with disdain. Tofi met his stare, then dropped his gaze and kept quiet. “Just as I figured—fresh off the cart,” Berry added, smug.

  Laughter swelled. Alya raised a hand and the room went still.

  “When I lived on the other side,” Tofi began, “I learned to slip into systems from this side. I can break locks—some only a couple of times, sure—but I know how to wear a disguise in there. That I can do.”

  “Oh wow, an expert,” Berry said, dripping sarcasm. “News to no one.”

  “Then you’re no use,” Juno said. “Nothing new to offer.”

  Alya’s gesture shelved the noise again.

  “How do you answer that?” he asked, wry.

  “What if I told you I have first-hand intel: there’s a huge opening to import Red Ore and cook a trending drug?”

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  “They’re our competition. They’re the ones moving the Ore. We know,” Alya said. “But we don’t have access to their vortex. They’ve kept it secret.”

  “I can tell you where it is,” Tofi shot back.

  “Seriously? How?” Juno asked.

  “I can tap a black-box tracking system,” Tofi said. “As you know, devices keep pinging even when you ‘turn them off.’ It’s run at a very high level…”

  “That’s impossible,” Berry said.

  “It isn’t,” Tofi replied. “DRACO runs it, uses it for intel in their tech ops. I can tell you where the crew who robbed you and killed your friend are, right now.”

  “Oh yeah? How?” said a kid clutching an AK-47. “Empathy?”

  “It’s telepathy, idiot,” Juno snapped. “How do you plan to do it?”

  Tofi held up his phone. “I pulled one attacker’s number while he was out cold. With that I can get at his logs, scrape his Facebook, WhatsApp chats, and trace his last moves.”

  “Nobody can do that,” Berry said.

  “I can,” Tofi said.

  “He’s grandstanding,” Juno said. “If it were possible, narcos would be in jail and terrorists on a leash.”

  “Some people benefit when things stay broken,” grumbled a carrot-haired kid with a mop of curls.

  “You and your conspiracy junk,” Juno shot back.

  Voices piled over voices. Alya lifted his hand.

  “Prove it.”

  Heat rushed to Tofi’s ears. He pulled his laptop from his backpack, dropped it on a table, booted up, and went to work.

  “Alya, you don’t actually—” Berry began, jealous.

  “Quiet,” Alya said.

  Tofi swallowed. “Give me a minute. The system’s slow. But it’s what I said.”

  “Then hurry up,” Alya warned. “We don’t have all day.”

  A minute crawled by; Tofi typed, masked, hopped proxies. Alya drifted out and back, impatience in his shoulders.

  “He can’t do it,” Berry said.

  “Hey, dumbass—time’s up,” Juno sneered.

  Tofi looked up and smiled. “Here are their movements. Their contacts.”

  Berry lunged at the laptop—and froze, speechless. Alya’s mouth tilted into a satisfied smile.

  “Perfect. We can go collect,” said a thick-necked bruiser whose hulking body didn’t match his tiny head.

  “You’re always this stupid,” Alya said. “They sent a clear warning. We’re not rushing a straight fight.”

  “We can run a play,” Tofi offered. “Once we read their patterns, we strike where they don’t expect it.”

  “Alya, we’re outgunned,” Juno said. “We’ve got irons, but not theirs. They’re Kurkis, with Syrian elves in their ranks.”

  “Exactly. We can track their steps,” another boy said. “But we can’t stand toe to toe.”

  “And this isn’t even real-time,” Berry objected.

  “It is,” Tofi said. “See? Right now a pair of them are here.”

  Every face leaned toward the screen.

  “No way,” Berry said, desperate to discredit him. “And who says you get in the crew?”

  Alya stood with arms folded.

  “What makes you think you can design a strategy?” he asked. “What are your skills?”

  “I’m a Sonata Chronicles fanatic,” Tofi said.

  The room burst out laughing. Alya’s eyebrow climbed, faintly amused.

  “You know what, Alya? We should dump this idiot,” Juno said. “We have bigger things to do.”

  “He’s a fraud,” Berry piled on.

  Alya shook his head. “Listen, blondie. You have forty-eight hours to bring me a plan. We’ll see if you are what you say.”

  “Where’s he going to work? I need my rig,” Berry protested.

  “I’ve got my own,” Tofi cut in.

  “Good. Tomorrow,” Alya said.

  Tofi smiled. “You’ll have it. I just want one thing.”

  “You’re in no place to ask,” Juno snapped.

  Alya eyed him, curious. “What?”

  “A Coke Zero,” Tofi said.

  Alya looked at him, half-ironic, half-surprised, then clicked his tongue. “You heard the guy,” he said, and strode out. Juno and two others followed.

  “Alya, you can’t leave him here,” Juno pressed. “We don’t know who he is—”

  “His name’s Tofi, and he saved one of ours,” Alya said.

  “He could be a spy,” Berry muttered.

  “Have Nux keep eyes on him,” Alya tossed over his shoulder, heading down the hall.

  “What if he doesn’t deliver?” Berry called.

  Alya stopped, glanced back. “Then the morgue gets a new tenant. Same as Huliak.”

  They stared at one another as Alya and his shadow disappeared into his room to keep playing.

  “That punk’s all talk,” Berry groused. “I know this stuff. He’s lying.”

  “Don’t worry,” Juno said. “If he slips, I’ll put a hole in that freckled skull myself. Meanwhile… take him what he asked for.”

  Berry trudged back and slapped a can of soda beside Tofi’s laptop. Tofi peered at him over the screen, then returned to typing. Berry curled a lip and left. Tofi watched him go from the corner of his eye.

  He knew he’d already crossed the Rubicon.