Heaven Hath No Rage - Book Two

Deviating

Theo hated to wait on men.

She had done enough of that in her short lifetime. She was told they would be meeting at sunrise and she was ready at sunrise. Yet, when the ship was anchored at the coordinates that were agreed upon, Kao and Clay were nowhere to be found. As more time passed, the two revolutionaries in charge of the Drokian mission were still missing. The sun was no longer hanging low on the horizon but had since moved high in the sky. It's beams were beating down on the deck but the sweat pooling at her brow was frustration, not heat.

At least, that is what Cooker had said. Contrary to Theo, she was having no issues not being outward about her displeasure at the tardiness. Instead, she said she was not going to let the things she could not control bother her. Theo didn't give her much more time until she started to get upset. There was only so much disrespect Cooker could take.

Theo would have had more sympathy, knowing they could be on the bottom of the ocean, but she was positive that wasn't the case. The seas had been calm, no storms in the area. Raiding ships from underworld groups had all but ceased in the cycles before reclassification. It should have been a straight shot from their origin point with little hassle.

Which meant the current rebels were shit at sailing or incapable of managing their time. Both of which annoyed her, both of which she thought to be true. She and her crew were expected to rise to a standard of success and professionalism that massive companies would not have been able to achieve. A crew that was seemingly the best the revolution had to offer couldn't even make it to the first destination on time.

Even with the obstacles in their way before coming, they managed to arrive in the specified time frame. They closed out their business in Niveal and saw the transfer of the management of their new assets. They packed up, settled their tabs around the island, managed to slip away from the Mithren without repercussions and still managed to hold up their end of the deal. Leave it to the land dwellers to not be able to navigate ideal sea conditions.

Maybe she would have been less on edge and maybe she would not be feeling increasingly excruciating anxiety with every minute that passed had their plans not relied on exactness and timeliness. To ease her slight panic, she went inside the deck and made herself some tea. The warmth shouldn't have helped, not with the punishing sun outside, but it did.

She calmed herself with thoughts of the last mission in Drokian. There had been a lot less planning and besides a brush with death, nothing went too terribly wrong. The mission that was still ahead of them had planning and experience behind it. They would pull it off, regardless of their shortened timeline. She was sure of it– and Theo was rarely sure of anything.

If she removed her frustration from her panic, she could see that they were well-equipped.

And while she had addressed the panic, the frustration was still burning deep inside. Their tardiness was also a perfect excuse to be angry at them. Theo wasn't that pleased with the brothers in the first place, she found them to be misguided in their involvement with rebellion. Had they been on time, the same annoyance would still be weighing her down.

Once she finished her tea, she headed back to the deck to receive any updates that might have been missed. Instead of any news, she found Cooker pacing the deck. Theo approached her and cleared her throat.

"One sun in Drokian is quickly turning into only a night in Drokian," Cooker said as she stopped and looked at Theo.

"We can arrive with an hour to spare and would be fine," Theo assured.

Things had quickly flipped on them, Cooker having been the one to be lax about the mission leading up to that point.

She relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath, "You're right. We did it before with no plan. We will be fine."