Waves rippled over the southern sea, the waters darkened by the shadow of a passing cargo ship. Steam billowed from its towering smokestacks, the vast, steel deck piled with massive crates as crewmen bustled throughout. At the main bow, an angular structure stood tall, lined with several levels and rooms that led to the main wheelhouse. Two men sat by a control console, one of them steering the colossal freighter. The other, a husky, bearded man, glanced at a wide radar screen, punching in some numbers on the keypad. “Captain, wind speeds are projecting to reach fifty-two miles per hour by two o’ clock.”

The pale-skinned captain raised his hat, his eyes tensing. “Long as we hit the docks in Marburg before then, we shouldn’t have much of a delay. We’re nearing the halfway mark in about twelve minutes. Thirty knots is manageable for now.”

“Heard.” The bearded man scooped a little radio from the deck. “Coop? Ed here; captain says to keep us at thirty knots for the time being. We aim to reach Marburg by one-fifteen. Over.”

Out on the cargo deck, a handful of workers strolled up from the engine room for shift change. They shuffled toward the cabins nestled beneath the wheelhouse, their banter filling the air over the droning engine and breaking waves. Three men walked by series of crates, where from which an eye peered through a tiny round hole.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” Kaffron whispered.

Amali pulled away from the hole, her shoulder knocking against the wall of the dark, empty storage crate. “Heard some noise out there; must be the crew.”

Kaffron hunched against the wall, his body half-lit by a couple small flashlights, his knees nearly touching his chin. He flipped a couple playing cards over while nibbling on a stick of beef jerky. “Shit, miss. You’re up.”

Amali squinted in the light, flipping two six of diamonds. “In your face.” She picked up the cards and set them in the discard pile. She peeled back the wrapper of her candy bar, chewing while she eyed the other face-down cards. “Miss. Okay, meathead, flip it or skip it.”

Kaffron chortled. “Clever. Man, been three turns since I had a match. You cheatin’ or what?”

“Phh, yeah, it’s called memorizing,” she said, smacking his boot.

He turned some random cards. “Man, can’t wait to get the hell outta here.”

“I know, but least this way we can save some money!” She scrunched up her wrapper and flicked it against the side wall. “That little treasure hunt sure put a dent in our savings.”

Kaffron sighed. “I still can’t believe that happened—and we’ve seen some crazy shit!”

“It’s weird, bein’ on the other end of a knife blade…kinda makes you think.”

“Come on, don’t get soft on me. Yeah I’m glad we got out, but really, how different is it from any other day?” He shrugged and took a bite. “Ya know, aside from leaving totally broke.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know Ornell’s gonna chew our asses for not calling. Shouldn’t’ve left my walkie back at headquarters.”

Kaffron kicked her boot. “Pretty rookie move. Mine’s right here.” He pulled a small, black transceiver from his pocket, fiddling with the knobs. “I’ll buzz him right now.” He flicked the power switch, yet the red light didn’t blip. “Ah, shit.”

Amali tossed her wrapper at his face. “You moron, you didn’t bring batteries, did you?”

“Hey, I never said I was perfect.”

They laughed briefly while she rummaged in her belt. She dug out some ammo cartons, matches, and a couple silver batteries. “Aha…here, lemme see that.”

Kaffron tossed her the device, smirking. “That’s us in a nutshell.”

Amali looked up at him, coyly lifting her eyebrow while inserting the fresh batteries. “So true…we clear out there?”

Kaffron leaned over, poking his eye out the peephole. “Go for it. Keep the volume low.”

Amali picked some caramel from her teeth while holding the receiver. “Mr. Ornell, do you copy?”

After a brief static hiss, a flat, monotonous voice spoke. “Ah, Amali. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever coming back! I trust Kaffron is close by?”

“Yes sir. I’m afraid we got sidetracked on a less-than-successful treasure hunt. We’re on a ship from Gundul Island.”

A chuckle came from the walkie. “From Gundul? Must’ve been quite the pricey excursion! Tell me you didn’t squander your hard-wrought earnings on a joyride.”

Amali shook her head. “Trust me, there was nothin’ joyful about it. We got a few hundred Dinara left from our last raid. Anything happening back at headquarters?”

“Negative, just routine inspections this week. Some of our Team Leaders have failed to log their checkpoints. Seems I need to crack the whip on all you kids!”

“Shit, you probably had teams run into each other in the same spot,” Kaffron said.

“Precisely. Approaching anywhere en masse like that will raise suspicion. I’m going to hold a training session Friday for all leaders—but I’d like you two to attend,” Ornell said.

“Really?” Amali said.

“You two have pulled some of our highest numbers; a little extra padding for your skills wouldn’t hurt! Besides, I’d be willing to dole out a larger slice to the truly hungry.”

Amali and Kaffron looked to one another. “We’ll be there. Once we get back to Marburg we’ll hitch a ride to Orenton. We’ll call when we’re at the train station.”

“Very good. Feel free to make a few pitstops if need be. Over and out.”

She set the walkie aside. “Wow, he seemed unusually chipper.”

Kaffron flipped a couple cards. “How can you tell? Guy sounds like a fuckin’ robot.”

She shrugged, her lips simpering. “Hey, if it means gettin’ a bigger share I’ll kiss his cold, aluminum ass all day.”

“I’ve seen you do worse,” Kaffron said, glaring at her.

“Babe, I was desperate. I don’t know how to apologize for that.”

“I’ve noticed,” Kaffron said, sniffing his jerky.

Amali held up her hands. “Fair enough…for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. It didn’t mean a thing. Guy was an easy mark.”

Kaffron snapped off some jerky and handed it to her. “That’s why I picked you.”

She smiled, turning away while brushing her hair aside. “That’s why you’re tryin’ to make me fat with all this candy.”

“You never stop nagging, do you?”

“I have to,” she said, playfully biting the jerky, “you act like a child.”

He grinned. “But that’s why you picked me.”

As they sat there, loud voices permeated through the little hole in the crate. Kaffron’s eye darted around as he peeked outside.

“What is it?” Amali said.

“Something’s happening.”

Outside, several of the crew hurried from their cabins, their feet clanking down the metal stairs onto the deck. The floor rattled beneath them while they piled by the sides. About a quarter mile beside them, a long, steel ship cruised across the ocean, teeming with people hunched and bound on the deck. Various armed force soldiers encircled them with rifles in hand. On the other ship, one of the workers lifted his binoculars. “Coop, what’s out there?”

“What the hell? It’s full of Arugian people,” the tanned, buzz-haired man replied.

“The captain didn’t mention any other ships on this trajectory today. What do you think it means?”

“I say we find out. Definitely looks suspicious,” Coop said, lowering his binoculars.

Their footsteps gradually faded as they returned to the bunks. Kaffron pulled back to his corner. “The hell’s that about?”

“What’d they say?” Amali asked.

“Couldn’t hear everything—sounds like there’s a ship carrying a bunch of Arugian people.”

“Arugians? Why?” Her eyes lifted. “Wait, they’re takin’ a bunch of Arugians overseas. Holy shit.” She snatched up the walkie. “Ornell, it’s Amali. Have you heard anything about a shipload of Arugians lately?”

“Hmm, as a matter of fact, yes. The news this morning made quite a racket about the mayor in Senigot City. Looks like he deported a large foreign population,” Ornell replied.

“So he did.”

“But why?” Kaffron said.

Amali tapped the antenna against her ear. “What’re the odds that guy Jirani had something to do with it?”

“You think?” Kaffron flicked his hand. “Nah, no way, he was thousands of miles away!”

“Amali, are you there?” Ornell said.

“Yes, sorry. Did the news give any reason why?”

Ornell chuckled. “From the sound of it, Corrigan didn’t screen his employees! Thousands of Dinara were stolen from his company, by Arugian men.”

Amali and Kaffron looked up abruptly. “You don’t think?” he said.

“Mr. Ornell, you think one of our teams could do some fishing? I think we’re about to land the big one!”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll explain when we get back. See if there’s anything else you can find out; we’ll keep our eyes open. Over.”

“Mali, you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

She stroked the underside of her chin. “Oh yeah. If my hunch is right, this treasure hunt’s just starting.”