A hail of hard rock fell from above. Mia scrambled out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting clocked on the head and risking a fall.

  She gritted her teeth and looked up. Two Grinders in harnesses and lines swayed far above her, drilling and hammering away into a rockface. She doubted they’d seen her.

  That was the problem with the Crags. Inside, people wanted to kill her. Outside, everything and everyone was conspiring to kill her by accident. The Grinders had a reason to look down on people not working in those conditions. They’d lost far more people to the environment than the scavengers or CK.

  A couple of days had passed since she’d convinced Gideon to let her patrol the Crags. There had been no reports of missing workers or any sightings of CK, which gave her time to familiarize herself with her new patrol area. She didn’t have weeks to look for her prey, though.

  Previous intel suggested CK would only appear near prey. No guards had observed him wandering the Crags, from what she’d heard. He waited, hidden somehow until Grinders arrived, and then he hunted.

  Despite the army of Grinders deployed to the Crags, there were a limited number of work areas. This gave Mia a more reasonable patrol area.

  That was the beginning of success but not a guarantee. Although she’d secured the smelting area, she had no assurances that the ogre would appear on schedule. When she’d first arrived, a month in Black Ice had seemed like it would be an eternity. Now, with hours ticking away, she felt like she was running out of time to infiltrate the black site and get the information she needed about her father.

  If necessary, she’d make a break for it through her sole remaining smelter tunnel. CK’s previous appearance confirmed that someone could make it in and out of the Crags undetected, but trying to map out the larger area and locate any hidden tunnels might take months, if not years.

  The almost complete lack of aerial patrols and drones reinforced the idea. The guards weren’t worried about people escaping from the Crags. They worried only about what might interfere with the mining and ore processing. The prisoners’ lives were incidental to the profit.

  Mia climbed over a jagged pile of discarded, crumbling rock. She lowered her face to avoid another wind assault.

  Picking the best time for an operation includes taking into account the weather, but that doesn’t mean you always have the freedom to pick those conditions. Accept that the environment might be working against you and figure out how to use it against your enemy.

  “I’m sure you went through worse, Dad,” Mia murmured. “You might have even been in a place like that.”

  He’d had a point. As uncomfortable as she was, CK would probably not like the weather any better. He wore thick clothes. That meant he wasn’t adapted to the local temperatures.

  Mia waited for the wind to subside, then climbed over the rocks to continue her patrol. She couldn’t patrol from behind a pile.

  She considered why CK appeared only in the Crags and came up with a theory. His huge size presented a practical disadvantage. He wouldn’t have been able to make it through most of the lower tunnels. And she didn’t care how many bullets he could take, if he got stuck, they could always bury or burn him alive.

  Ten tons of rock could flatten a car. It should flatten the Cannibal King.

  The real question was if there was any relationship between CK and the scavengers. According to Flip, while the scavengers had been causing more trouble recently, CK had been seen less. She didn’t believe that was because CK was afraid of the scavengers.

  She’d considered the idea of him feasting on the scavengers, but her mind kept returning to the secret facility. There were too many things she didn’t know to be sure of any single conclusion. Even the scavengers might be a tool of the staff.

  Mia slipped into a half-buried cave, both to escape the rising wind and explore deeper. In the end, it didn’t matter why CK had shown up less lately except for Mia’s hypothesis that eliminating scavenger access would make him show up more. The entire facility was a corrupt cesspool from the warden down to the individual prisoners. She wasn’t there to clean it up. She was there to find her way to the nearby black site and get information on her father. Her time in the prison confirmed that the enemies of the KCAP came as much from within as without.

  She pulled out a flashlight and shined it around the area. Snowdrifts and piles of rock mixed with thick plates of ice, clogging further passage. No one had bothered with this cave for some time.

  “No hidden monsters in here?” she called. “Come out now while you still can.”

  Her plan had another dangerous assumption. She was betting that, because CK wore clothes and had a roughly humanoid appearance, he could communicate. Hope, more than evidence, supported that idea.

  Mia leaned against the cave entrance to survey the hellish majesty of the Crags and compare them to the mountains of her home world. She’d never thought about leaving her home until her father died. Now she’d visited two different planets and flown a starfighter in deep space. She saw wonder and glory in that, even in a place like Black Ice and the Crags. Danger held a beauty all its own.

  That didn’t mean she’d let herself forget why she was there. She wouldn’t fail her mission. Her father didn’t raise her to be a failure. Every challenge, every opponent strengthened her. She would live up to his legacy.

  And the first part of that involved tracking down an ogre named the Cannibal King.

  “Don’t make me wait too long, CK,” Mia whispered. “I don’t want to spend any longer than I have to in this place. I have a secret facility to invade.”

  Wind funneled through the tunnel length and clawed at Mia’s exposed face. She threw her arm up to block the wind and make sure she didn’t lose sight of the Grinders she was shadowing. She’d followed Gideon and his work detail out to the Crags. He motioned his men ahead before turning to her. He trudged through fresh snow into the tunnel to get close enough to speak without shouting.

  “It’s been three days, Rat Catcher,” Gideon remarked.

  “I’m not catching rats anymore. Don’t call me that.”

  “I’ll call you what I want. And you’re demanding food from us.” He took another step. “You have no proof CK’s going to show up. This whole thing goes against the Grinder way. Those who work, eat. Everyone else needs to figure out their own way. We don’t give food for nothing.”

  “Would you rather someone die, or you give me food for a few days?” Mia demanded. “I know it’s hard in a place like this to think long-term. Your people look up to you. Start acting like a real leader.”

  “I am a real leader.” Gideon squared his shoulders but didn’t dare approach closer. He nodded toward an icy cliff right outside the tunnel entrance. “And how long are we supposed to wait for you? We did you a favor that first day, and you’ve repaid us by spitting in our faces and trying to make us look weak in front of everyone.”

  “You’ve got it all wrong,” Mia shot back. “I was fine, and I provided a service that cost you only a small amount of food. I’ve helped you back on quota, but you’re bitching and ungrateful. You tried to cheat me, and I wouldn’t let you.” She pointed to a guard standing farther down the path. “They might be afraid of CK, but they’re not afraid of the scavengers. They could have gone into those tunnels and sealed them up anytime they wanted. They could have helped protect you but couldn’t be bothered. I did what the guards wouldn’t, and I did what you couldn’t. I think that deserves praise and respect, not all your complaints.”

  Gideon reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of goggles. He slipped them on. “You never answered my question. How long are we supposed to wait? Because right now you’re costing us something and giving us nothing. That make things clearer?”

  “You wouldn’t like the alternative.”

  He scoffed. “This place isn’t always going to go your way, Rat Catcher. You don’t need more enemies, and we’re damned well not your friends.”

  “Same to you.” Mia stomped past him, knocking his shoulder with hers as she strode toward the tunnel entrance and exposed part of the Crags. “I’ll handle CK. You go keep digging for the people who don’t care if you live or die, and I’ll eliminate a serious threat.”

  “I’ve been thinking,” Gideon shouted when she reached the tunnel entrance. “I might have been wrong about the scavs. I could have overestimated them. And that makes me think you’re not all that, Rat Catcher.”

  Mia turned back toward him, forcing a blank expression. “I’ve killed far more people since arriving than you. Would you like to test my abilities? It’s not to my advantage to kill you here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.”

  Gideon shook his head. He held up a finger. “One week, Rat Catcher. After that, we’re not giving you shit. You want to take us on, then we can hook up with the Bravos to beat your ass.”

  “This prison will be far emptier in one week, then.” Mia shrugged. “Remember, it’ll be hard to make quota with so many dead workers.”

  He snickered. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  By the fifth day, Mia regretted not clarifying with Gideon whether his week included the days she’d already been on patrol. The Tended had been neutral toward her following her befriending of Flip, but that didn’t mean they’d back her in a fight. The Bravos would have loved a chance for revenge. Any altercation with Grinders would grow into a massive fight.

  Would the guards intervene? She hadn’t seen them bother other than their volleys against the scavengers during her arrival. They might even shoot her for thinning out their ranks. They didn’t care in general about prisoners living or dying, but they did care if huge numbers died.

  Mia’s contingencies included retreating to the lower tunnels and demanding a public duel with Gideon, finishing him off so quickly as to shock the rest of his faction into submission. Dominating a faction through ultra-violence sounded easy in theory, but she lacked the connections in the prison to convince other prisoners to follow her.

  When she’d rallied the other cadets, it was for a single operation and with a clearly defined enemy. Even with those efforts, her League of Losers fell apart quickly. The average naval cadet was far less motivated by short-term rewards than the corrupt population of Black Ice.

  This latest gambit couldn’t fail. She needed CK. Once she found him, everything else would fall into place. Gideon might try to screw her over after she handled the ogre, but she’d worry about that once she’d returned from the black site. Taking down CK would earn her a reputation that no one could challenge.

  Mia jogged down a twisting path to follow the shadows of prisoners on the work detail who were breaking into smaller groups. She’d been patrolling the first three days with the same strategy she’d used below: deep exploration. But CK was a hunter—or, if Gideon’s ritual theory was to be believed, a gatherer. He’d go where the people were. Sticking close to Grinders was her best bet, especially prisoners near the lower Crags tunnels, where it would be easier to hide without getting caught by guards.

  A Grinder with a handheld sonic drill resting on his shoulder glanced her way. She couldn’t make out his expression at the distance or his words, but when he gestured her way, the others laughed.

  Everyone respected what she’d accomplished with the scavengers and the tunnels, yet thought they were wasting their food on the CK patrol. The myopia sickened her.

  Mia kept her distance. She wasn’t there to befriend anyone. She was there to hunt an ice ogre. The men in front of her were nothing more than bait for her mission.

  The advantage of her coat was she could line the interior with her entire blade collection. With the help of thread traded to her by Flip, she’d sewn hidden pockets inside.

  She’d been mentally gaming out encounters with CK over the past couple of days. He couldn’t be bulletproof, but she knew his unusual appearance might be caused by thicker skin under his thick clothing. Basic stabs and slashes might not do much more than annoy him.

  Her overall and immediate mission goals complicated her assault plan. The most straightforward attack would be to ambush him from behind and slit his throat. That would preclude her from getting intel through direct interrogation or by following him. Disabling a monster like CK without inflicting lethal injury might be her greatest challenge yet.

  Mia blew out, her hot breath visible in the cold air. She rubbed her gloved hands together. Time was her ever-present enemy. If she didn’t find CK in two days, she’d have to consider changing her plan. Her backup food wouldn’t last long if the Grinders cut her off.

  She spotted a suspicious shadow lurking among the soot drifts and ice. She hung back farther from the Grinders, narrowing her eyes to verify that she wasn’t being tricked by light reflecting off ice.

  I don’t know if I’m lucky or cursed, she thought.

  She crouched low and eased toward the new target. A shift in the flow of wind resolved the shadow into a huge humanoid shape.

  Mia’s heart kicked up. She’d found what she needed. That didn’t make her happy, though.

  The whole plan had been a gamble. Attacking CK directly was the biggest gamble of them all, but no mission was ever guaranteed success. She couldn’t discover the truth about her father without taking risks, including huge ogres in the icy volcanic mountains of a prison planet wasteland.

  She flittered between rocks, ice, and shadows, moving closer to CK. His movements revealed his cunning. He didn’t charge at nearby Grinders. He shifted between large outcroppings and snowdrifts, concealing his approach. Soot and ice covered his ragged clothing. Now she wondered if he’d done it on purpose as camouflage.

  It was hard to know if he was aware of Mia. He never looked her way as he stalked closer and closer to his prey, a Grinder piecing together a drill rig against an ice-covered wall of rock next to a huge drop into the dark ashen abyss below. She remained surprised the guards allowed access to that size of equipment, but it wasn’t something the Grinders could smuggle without being caught.

  The Grinder touched his ID to the rig. A loud whine sounded from the front, and the air distorted. Snow shot away in all directions. He moved to the side to tap at the controls and the front of the drill angled down.

  Mia grunted in annoyance. She’d wanted more time to observe CK. Now, she had to make her move before he finished off the Grinder. As much as she didn’t care for Gideon and his men, she wasn’t scum who’d let a man die just to give her a tactical advantage.

  She darted closer, the howl of the wind concealing her footfalls. CK didn’t look her way. Shouting out to the Grinder wouldn’t help. He wouldn’t be able to hear what she was saying. She would accomplish nothing but announce her presence to CK and give up her advantage.

  Though they were separated by swirling soot and ice, Mia was closer to him than she’d been on her arrival at Black Ice. His huge size struck her again, as did his bestial features. Flip’s explanation about the medical facility explained how such a creature could exist. What troubled Mia more was why. Shining light into the darkest corners of the KCAP disgusted her with each new revelation.

  CK lingered behind an ice-covered outcropping doubling as a small hill. He flexed his massive dirty fingers, eyeing the unaware Grinder with obvious hunger. Mia was out of time.

  She shot forward, relying on the wind to eat her footsteps. By the time CK turned his head, she pounced on his back, ready and committed to her first strategy. Operation Mia the Giant Killer had been initiated.

  Mia wrapped her arms around his thick neck and squeezed. Disabling him would end the danger while giving her a chance to secure him for interrogation. Whatever else he was, he was a mammal, and mammals needed to breathe.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” she shouted. “I only want to talk about the facility.”

  A low, long growl sounded. Mia felt it more than heard it as it vibrated through her body.

  Now that she was clinging to CK’s back trying to knock him out, his rank odor filled her nostrils. That was proof enough that CK was a creature of flesh and blood, not a ghost.

  He did not move or drop, despite the tight lock on his throat. She might as well have been a flea clinging to a dog, nothing more than an annoyance.

  “I just want to talk,” she repeated. “Nod if you can understand me.”

  Mia jerked her head to the side to avoid CK’s grasping hand. She released her grip and dropped behind him when his other hand went for her arm. She’d seen what he could do once he got a grip on someone. Those so-called hands could snap bones like twigs. She didn’t want to be the twigs.

  He flung a hand at her and she jumped back. CK threw his head back and let out a bone-shaking roar. Mia thought her ears were going to bleed.

  The Grinder jumped away from his equipment. All it took was a glance at the source of the roar to send him sprinting down the mountain ignoring the wind and all caution.

  Mia chuckled. She knew he wasn’t going for reinforcements. Her plan had never relied on Grinder reinforcements anyway.

  She drew two shivs from her coat and held them up. “I need to know how to get to the facility. I don’t care about anything else. We can come to some sort of agreement. I can offer you food if that’s what you want.”

  CK rounded on her and let out another roar. His dark eyes blazed with anger as he lunged for her.

  “We don’t have to do this,” Mia tried again. She grunted and dodged another lunge. “Stop, or I’ll be forced to take you down.”

  She announced the threat with confidence she didn’t feel. For one of the few times in her life, she didn’t know if she could win the fight.

  CK growled, spreading his arms out. Mia jogged toward the rig, thinking she could use the equipment against him somehow. With the Grinder out of sight, she was the only one at risk.

  She’d barely made it when CK charged forward. Though he lacked her grace or speed, his long legs let him cover the distance quickly. He swiped at her and missed, and yanked a metal rod from the rig.