Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“Then we’re getting her to a hospital,” Malik says. “I’ll put her in a shuttle and take her.”
“You’re not going to go in a shuttle, Malik. We’re all going. The ship is far faster than any shuttle could be. Nothing is going to happen to her. Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen. Nothing is going to happen.”
Except something has already happened. Zeki has been shot. There’s no undoing that. And though I am no doctor, she has a particular pall that makes me think she may not survive. I am shocked at what I have seen. The violence from the forces on the space station seemed extreme. They wanted to eradicate Shah and everybody with him.
“Who were the soldiers?” I venture the question quietly when Shah stalks out of the sick bay, his expression thunderous. I’m half afraid he’s going to take it out on me. I feel guilty, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I always feel guilty for no reason.
“The entire station had been hijacked by authorities. It was a trap designed to catch me. Someone on board this ship let them know I was coming.”
“There are so many people on the ship. It could have been any of them.”
“But only a handful who knew where I was going. I don’t announce my movements to all and sundry. We’re outlaws, but we’re not stupid.” He turns to me. “I’m going to secure you in my room, Dreamy. I have some business to attend to.”
8
Shah
I have the blood of my companions on my skin, and the responsibility for their deaths on my conscience. I have failed those who trusted me so deeply and so completely I can barely express it.
I have never been caught so completely off-guard. I am distracted. Dreamy has me off-balance. It is not uncommon for me to have someone warming my bed. It is very uncommon for me to be thinking about them to the extent we all get murdered. I am angry, furious with myself. I cannot afford mistakes. Mistakes get my friends killed.
I call a meeting of my people, the only people I trust to know with my destinations. These are friends and lieutenants I’ve trusted my entire adult life, people who have suffered with me and grown with me. Their loyalty is unquestionable. But I’m going to have to question it.
Malik is still by Zeki’s bedside, which means I’m left to speak with my other top lieutenants, Azriel, Rath, and Kolt. Azriel was with me down on the docks. Rath and Kolt were handling security on the ship, taking orders from Malik and executing them.
“Well, boys,” I say. “I fucked up.”
As I speak, I give each and every one of them a long, hard look. I want to see if there are any glimmers of guilt in their gazes beyond the obvious regret we all share. I see nothing but their steadfast loyalty and honor coming back at me.
“They knew we were coming.”
Each of us is a warrior. They follow me because I have led them to riches, and yes, even peace. But if I cannot do that, they will have no problem splintering from me and starting their own concerns.
Azriel clears his throat. “Has it occurred to you that the first ambush we’ve been caught out in years happens days after you take a wandering drone from the Colony in? You have to consider the possibility she’s the reason we got fucking hammered today. She could be a mole.” Azriel wears a thick, dark pair of spectacles that do very little to hide the fact that he is about as bookish as a tiger. His hair is shaved completely on the left side of his head, and the rest of it falls in a dark cascade on the right. He’s used the shaved real estate responsibly, wild tattoos displayed on the side of his skull, each with a particularly nasty meaning. His left hand is fisted in his right, and then his right is fisted in his left, back and forth, back and forth, punching his own palms in slow frustration. His eyes are a vicious green, locked on me with what could become malevolence if we are not all very careful.
“She has no connections. It’s not possible. She has not been in communication with anybody. I haven’t allowed it, and all our channels are encrypted and monitored. Anything going to the Authority would have been flagged.”
Kolt speaks up. He’s a big blond beast of a man with hair shaved at the sides and cut into a flat plane about an inch above his skull. His augmentations are nearly external in several places, wires trammeling his body between muscle and skin in a network of cybernetic veins. He has a blocky head with an intensely square mandible. Kolt is a beast.