Ash’s eyes snapped open at the whisper. Her hand shot to her Covar and her gaze shot to the doorway.
The kid who’d killed Harrion approached her thin mattress.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Mira left.”
She took her finger off the trigger and sat up. “With who?”
“She was alone.”
“You have her followed?” She secured her hair with a band, then stood. On his mattress against the opposite wall, Hauch reached for his boots. They were in a stripped-out generator closet that hadn’t lost the smell of soldered curuk and oil.
“I did,” the kid said.
“You had her followed, or you did the following?”
“Me. I followed her,” he said, all but thumping his chest. “She’s headed to the spaceport.”
Damn it, Mira.
Ash crammed her feet into her boots. “How long has she been gone?”
“Couple of hours.”
She wanted to shake the kid. “Next time you recon, you get a message to me immediately. Understood?”
“You’re lucky I didn’t go to Scius.”
Ash’s hand tightened at her side. She could almost feel the textured grip of her combat knife against her palm. A clear image popped into her head: her shoving the blade between the kid’s ribs like he’d shoved his between Harrion’s. She could do it before he lost that overconfident gleam in his eyes.
But she wouldn’t, and he was observant enough to know it. He’d seen her help Harrion and Nyla. He’d seen her stop Chace from shooting the other kids. The standard you-get-to-live line wouldn’t work.
Instead, she let her silence emphasize just how insignificant he was, how little he knew, how it might be a risk to underestimate an unknown dreg.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “You’re her, aren’t you? You’re the Ash.”
Well, damn. Maybe not so unknown.
What had he heard though? He couldn’t have been a decade old when she’d left, and she’d been careful not to flaunt her schemes.
She kept the question from her face.
“I don’t know who you think the Ash is, but I’m someone you don’t want to cross.”
He stilled, and that measured look he’d had before he shoved Nyla returned. Ash doubted Harrion was the first person he’d killed. Hell, by his age, Ash had sent more than a few dregs to their graves. This kid was the standard level of lethal on Glory, and he was thinking about killing her.
“Where’s Chace?” she asked in an attempt to get him to focus on something that wouldn’t end up with him dead.
“I’m here,” Chace said, striding into the crowded room.
Suspicious timing. Had he been standing in the hall, waiting to see how this conversation ended?
“The tachyon capsule is in-system.” His gaze was too steady.
“You didn’t have someone watching her,” Ash said.
He lifted a shoulder. “She slipped away.”
Anger scraped across her skin. Chace had never been incompetent. If he had been, someone would have put a bullet in him a long time ago. No, this was something else.
“You want the shipment.” Her fists clenched. He could make good currency selling the medications.
“No. I want you.”
In the past, that might have been a sexual comment. It wasn’t one anymore. He wanted her to finish the scheme they’d started five years ago.
“Mira makes good bait,” he said. “If we—”
Ash slammed her palm into his nose.
He’d known the blow was coming, had tried to move out of the way, but she was quicker than she’d been before.
She darted in for what would have been an easy takedown if Hauch hadn’t slung his arms around her.
Chace planted his boot in her gut. The kick knocked the air from her lungs and sent her and Hauch backward. Hauch tripped on his mattress, lost balance, and crashed sideways into a stack of broken electronics.
Ash slipped free, dodged a second kick from Chace, then she punched his throat.
He jerked.
Gagged.
Fell to his knees.
She dropped down too, drawing her Covar and jamming the barrel under his chin.
Hauch called her name.
She waited for Chace to stop choking. When he did, she leaned forward. “Sure you want me to be the person I was before?”
That person would have blown his head off.
He swallowed, a movement that looked difficult, then said, “You changed before you left, Ash. Lot of us did.”
She dug the barrel in harder, forcing his head up and back as coughs wracked his body.
Hauch called her name again.
She should do it. Kill him. She should forget about Mira and focus on ensnaring Neilan Tahn. Getting to him was more important than anyone on Glory.
She felt herself backsliding again, becoming that heartless person who thought only of her own schemes and survival. If she left Mira to suffer her fate—if she took Chace down—she would be irredeemable.
“Look at me, Ashdyn.”
Something in Hauch’s voice made her shift her focus. He’d drawn his Covar, too, and had it pointed at her head.
She and Hauch hadn’t hit it off when Ash had been assigned to Gamma Team. They’d been tasked with guard duty on Meryk, an assignment that didn’t put to use any of their elite training. She thought they’d moved past that though.
“You hearing me?” It was a careful question.
Oh.
Chace didn’t know what she was, but Hauch did. He knew what anomalies were capable of doing, and he knew their history of snapping.
He also knew her mind had been screwed with by telepaths.
She supposed she couldn’t blame him for pulling his weapon on her. She doubted he’d shoot, but she released Chace anyway, then stared down at him. “You should get out of my sight.”
“Mira—” Chace choked, swallowed, then tried again. “Mira’s going to hijack the shipment. You can’t just walk in the front gate. I have a way in.”
Hauch holstered his weapon. “Why does she need to steal a shipment with her name on it?”
Chace snorted, braced a hand against the wall, then rose to his feet. “We were paying mercenaries to protect the deliveries, but the incoming credits stopped flowing for some mysterious reason.” He glanced at Ash. “Scius’s dregs took the last shipment. They’ll be there to take this one too.”
And they’d get Mira as a bonus. Scius would make an example out of her. He’d carve her into pieces and put her head on a stake to show everyone what happened to people who supported Ash.
“If we’re going to help her,” Hauch said, “we need to go.”
She met his gaze. Was he eager to help Mira? Or eager to get Ash to the spaceport and off the planet?
“We’ll need supplies,” Ash said to Chace.
“I’ll take care of it.” He used his shirt to wipe blood from his face. “Meet me outside the freighter in ten.”
When he left, Ash retrieved her combat belt from her mattress. She buckled it on, holstered her Covar, then patted the pocket on her right thigh. She had one booster left. The need to inject the chem wasn’t too severe yet—fortunately, because the moment she used it, she would have to make plans to return to the Fighting Corps. If Ash kept her head clear and her body in one piece, she wouldn’t need to inject it anytime soon.
Which was good. She didn’t know how long it would take to draw Tahn to Glory, and she had no intention of leaving before she tracked him down. Trevast, her murdered team lead, had spoken to the crime lord more than once. Tahn was her best lead to discover how deeply the telepaths had infiltrated the Coalition.
But Tahn wasn’t there yet. She had the time and ability to help Mira. Mira might not want that help, but Ash owed her. She wouldn’t let Scius get his hands on her.
“Want to tell me what we’re up against?” Hauch asked.
Ash reached into a box shoved into a corner and grabbed a few ration bars. She tossed one to Hauch.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll brief you on the way.”