Leaving Rohan behind in a rusted cargo carriage under Rahul's watch, Vikram climbed the high brick walls of the Byculla Victoria Mill. The rain was his cover, but the cold inside the yard was unnatural.
He didn't need a thermometer to know the Vow's enforcers were near. The puddles on the concrete were freezing into black ice, and his breath turned to thick plumes of white mist.
Two enforcers patrolled the entrance of the turbine room, their rifles held high.
Vikram drew on his Wraith training. He folded the shadow, stepping forward into absolute invisibility. The air temperature plummeted. The guards shivered, looking around in confusion as their thermal visors glitched under Vikram's bio-electric interference.
He moved between them like a cold wind. A double strike—left hook to the liver, right cross to the chin—sent both men crashing down.
Inside the turbine room, the second transmitter pulsed. Vikram didn't hesitate. He gathered his Prana, letting the electric current surge down his arms until his fists glowed with blue sparks. He drove both fists into the control panel.
The machine shrieked, metal twisting as the dark photons exploded outward.
"Transmitter destroyed," Vikram panted into his radio, coughing as the smoke filled his lungs. "Rahul, get Rohan out. We need to move."
"We have a problem, Vikram," Rahul's voice was panicked. "A police cruiser just pulled into the railway yard. We're pinned."
"Hold on," Vikram said, turning back toward the rain-slicked exit. "I'm coming."