“Let’s go,” she says, dragging one of the small flood boats across the ground.

Ava and Haven rush to help, lifting the other end of the transport. Barend and Alexander begin to pull over the second boat when Lucía cautions, “We should rethink the plan.”

“No,” Mira argues, shaking her head. “We are the first wave of the assault—everyone is depending on us. We have to push forward.”

“When something seems too easy,” Skye says, “it usually means it is . . .”

“We are not turning back,” Alexander growls.

No way the man’s retreating now. We’ve all come too far and lost too much not to see this through.

There’s only a ten-mile track of pipeline between us and Roth. It’s go time, to whatever end.

That’s my focal point—not the question of why boats are in this station. My view is that it’s a good thing because a) we won’t get soaked now and b) I’m a city boy who can’t swim to save my life.

As I see it, it’s a win-win.

“We show no fear, remember?” Ava says to Lucía.

That settles it. Lucía nods, then moves to complete the next task on her checklist: changing back into her battle uniform.

The rest of us huddle around the giant pipe, which has to be at least twelve feet in diameter. The good news is the water flows super fast—we won’t even need an engine to propel us toward the Salazar Reservoir. The only drawback is we’ll have to lie down flat or risk a premature death by decapitation.

“We have to slow down the water or we won’t be able to load the boats,” Barend says, popping his head back out from inside the pitch-dark pipeline.

Luckily for us, Lucía is already a step ahead of that particular problem. A word in that odd, clipped code language, then there’s the loud whoosh! of a gear shifting. Just like that, the speed of the gushing water cuts in half.

Wasting zero time, Haven joins Barend to haul the first inflatable boat into the pipe. They keep it steady while Ava, Mira, Alexander, and I carefully clamber on, packing ourselves like sardines on the floorboard.

“Look for the red flashing light,” Lucía reminds us.

The emergency hatch that leads into the water treatment plant. Our stop on this perilous water ride.

That building will officially put us onto the stronghold’s property. I’ll cut the power, then it’s out onto the pitch-black grounds and into the mansion where Lucía and Matías predict the meeting will take place.

“We’ll follow close behind,” Barend says. Haven hops on before he lets go, sending us traveling toward one of the most dangerous places on the continent.

My mouth hangs open in a silent scream. I can’t quite manage to convince myself that the boat’s not going to flip. Then I feel Ava slide her hand into mine and my panic quickly disappears, and the rest of the twenty nail-biting minutes it takes to reach our port of call feels like smooth sailing.

“The light,” Haven announces from the front of the boat.

I lift my body and shine a solar flashlight on the emergency ladder fused to the pipe’s wall.

“It’s coming up quick!” Alexander warns.

Haven lunges for a rung first, but misses. Mira dives for it next, manages to grip the bottom bar, then crashes back into the boat, landing hard on her knees. I take my shot, thinking third time’s the charm, and slip on the slick floorboard before I can even touch metal.

Not good at all.

When Ava tumbles over me on her attempt at the ladder, the panic sets back in. I start to have visions of the boat flying out the tail end of the pipeline and plunging into the depths of the reservoir where we’ll all meet a watery grave.

Bullshit if I’m going to go down by drowning.

Then in a move straight out of a VR action game, Alexander launches himself from the back of the boat and clasps hold of the ladder with one arm while clinging to the edge of our boat with the other.

“Grab the ladder and pull!” he yells. He hangs in midair, straining to keep his grasp.

Ava, Mira, and I leap to do as he says, each of us seizing a rung of the ladder for dear life. We drag the boat back toward the hatch with all we’ve got.

Haven pops onto the ladder first, attempting to twist the door open while we hold the boat in position.

But the hatch won’t budge.

“Hurry!” Alexander yells. He’s losing strength.

Ava and Mira race up the ladder to help their aunt yank the emergency door free. As they disappear through the opening, I secure myself onto the steel bars, leaving enough space for Alexander on the bottom rungs.

“Jump!” I shout.

He releases the boat to the will of the current and swings onto the ladder, his full weight crashing against the lower half of my body.

“Start climbing,” he says, all calm, like he didn’t just save the entire mission.

I follow his orders and then scramble out of the hatch door at the top. Ava has her hand out, waiting to lift me to my feet. Surprisingly, Mira does the same for Alexander, and he actually accepts her offer.

“I will help the second boat,” Haven volunteers, crouching by the emergency door. “Go, we will catch up.”

Ava and Mira nod, and Alexander and I follow the sisters into a museum-sized room teeming with pipelines and massive filtration tanks painted a shiny blood red. The Salazar symbol crawls all over the treatment equipment like an incursion. Not just a lone scorpion, but a whole nest of them.

It’s like the cartel’s version of those old epic war paintings. A crude depiction of the Salazar takeover of the water stronghold from the Mexican government.

The effect is so sinister and disturbing, it makes my skin crawl.

“You’re up,” Ava says to me.

Right. Time to take the Salazars’ power. Literally.

The main electrical room should be near the back of the building. Get inside, hack into the system, cut off all electricity, communication, surveillance for the entire stronghold.

Easy.

Matías and hundreds—let’s aim higher, thousands—of the People’s Militia should be surrounding the stronghold right now, waiting in the wings for our cue.

“Let’s make all hell break loose,” I say. Ava smiles, her green cat eyes sharp and bright like a hunter’s.

The rest of Team Takedown scrambles up through the hatch, and then I take off down a narrow hallway. I make it only about twenty steps when I hear an ominous beep! accompanied by a gear shifting.

A shout from Haven echoes off the metal walls. Then Skye’s voice cries out, then Lucía’s.

What the hell is happening?

I tear my way back to the filtration room just in time to see the galvanized steel floor drop out from under Barend.

“Run!” Alexander screams, but he’s the next victim. Another round of beeps! and he plummets down into the pipes along with Mira.

“Mira!” Ava yells in horror, throwing her body onto the metal ground, scrambling on her hands and knees to follow the path of her sister’s screams.

Mira’s cries sound distant now. The water’s rushing her away. To where?

I leap onto the edge of one of the tanks, managing to get a slippery grip, and reach out desperately for Ava.

“Grab my hand!” I shout.

But it all happens so fast. Beep! The floor where Ava crawls opens out from under her like a trap door.