back from the console. He was so damn useless. The only thing he’d done was send messages to his parents and siblings, to a few friends who might be able to check on them, and to Captain Naethan Furyk. The latter had command of the Kaelais, the Coalition’s most advanced sentient ship. He’d know Javery’s status. Whether he’d pass info on to Rykus, he didn’t know. It almost didn’t matter. Rykus wouldn’t get an update until another data dump arrived.
He logged off the terminal, erasing one of the dozens of articles he’d read that had confirmed Chace’s words. The Sariceans had launched a ground assault. They’d taken full control of the thrysite mines, and they bombarded locations that put up any resistance against their curfews and laws.
The articles hadn’t reported on the location of the Coalition Fleet, but they had made it clear that certain member planets blamed the Coalition for not providing aid.
It wasn’t the Coalition’s fault. The triumvirate hadn’t requested help in time.
Stupid. Just so damn stupid.
He left the console. He needed to move. He needed to find Ash. He shouldn’t have left her like he had. He should have made sure she got to medical care. At the least, he should have made sure she took the overdue booster.
He pinged her cuff as he left the communications room. Seekers were returning from the break yards. The dining hall had filled with exhausted men and women. They were crammed around a few tables to make room for triage. The injured Gloridians should be in hospitals, not lying on a cold, dirty floor. It was unbelievable that this was the best care they could get.
He didn’t see Ash, so he pinged her again, then tried to find her in the room they’d slept in last night. She wasn’t there. She wasn’t in the rec area either. There was no sign of her or Chace or Mira. He didn’t see anyone he recognized.
His footfalls grew heavy. The news about Javery had blindsided Ash. He’d seen it in the way her eyes widened. He’d seen it in the way she’d tried and failed to scrape up something to say. But he hadn’t been thinking about her at that moment. He hadn’t considered how the loyalty training might twist her emotions. She didn’t react well to things that hurt him. Moreover, she didn’t react well to things that threatened the Coalition. The attack on Javery—and the accusations and conspiracies surrounding it—would knock Ash off-orbit.
So where the hell was she? And why wasn’t she answering his pings?
He stopped the next Seeker who crossed his path. The man knew of Ash—apparently, nearly everyone in the House knew of her—but he hadn’t seen her. Neither did the next two Seekers he asked. He was about to ping Chace when Ash’s name finally popped up on his cuff.
“Where are you?” he demanded.
A long pause then, “I’m in the garage. The metal building on the north side of the quad. You okay?”
“I’m almost there,” he said. He killed the connection, slipped out the back door, then strode across the night-darkened courtyard. The garage’s sliding door was cracked open but not widely enough. He shoved it aside and entered.
The place smelled like dirty metal. Sheets of it were piled against the far wall along with layers of hardened insulation and refracting plastics. Ash stood next to Emmit in the center of the garage. The latter had pried a panel off the side of a transport.
He strode toward them. “You didn’t answer your pings.”
“I was in the middle of something,” Ash said.
“In the middle of this?” He nodded at the transport.
“In the middle of showering and taking care of myself, but yes. I ran into Emmit.”
Rykus looked Ash over. She had cleaned up and changed clothes, and she’d either seen a medic or treated her injuries herself. Med-gel glistened on her cheek, and a bandage peeked out under the cuff of a long-sleeved shirt she wore open. Her undershirt was clean and white, so she must have taken care of that side wound too. She seemed okay, so why was suspicion clawing at his spine?
He looked at Emmit. Emmit immediately looked at the transport.
“She got a little beaten up on the rides to and from the break yard,” Emmit said, “but I’ll get her up and running by noon tomorrow. We’ll load her with fuel and get you to the warehouse. Ash said the SG-220 can get you to space.”
Rykus looked at Ash.
“We’ll be cutting it close,” she said, “but we should make it to the capsule before it leaves.”
“You’re leaving with me?”
She looked him straight in the eye. “Yes.”
From the moment they’d run into each other at the spaceport, Ash had been planning to shove him into a capsule with Mira while she stayed behind to deal with Tahn herself. More than once, he’d had to make it clear he wasn’t going anywhere without her. Now she wanted him to believe she was suddenly dropping her mission to leave with him?
“What are you planning, Ash?”
“Mel still has some of that cheap stealth varnish. We’ll reapply a coat to the 220. It’ll be good enough for a single trip through the atmosphere.”
“Scius will be watching,” Rykus said. “Anti-data paint won’t help against a targeted scan.”
“I’ve arranged for a distraction.”
“Scius doesn’t sound like an idiot. He won’t take his eyes off this province.”
“Ships will be all over the coast, surveying the damage,” Ash said. “We won’t be noticed.”
She had an answer for everything. It was like she’d planned for all his questions. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like the way she maintained eye contact, and he didn’t like the way Emmit preoccupied himself by tinkering with the wires inside the transport’s open panel.
Ash finally sighed and looked away. “I know you won’t leave without me. I also know that you have to go. It’s possible I can…” She looked at Emmit, then stepped closer to Rykus and lowered her voice. “It’s possible I can finish my mission on the capsule. And you’re my fail-safe, Rip. The Sariceans’ attack not only hurts you, but it hurts the Coalition. I have to go too.”
She fidgeted with the bottom hem of her shirt. She didn’t like admitting weaknesses. Was that what this was? She was uncomfortable being vulnerable? It was possible. Hadn’t he just been thinking about the loyalty training and its effects on her? In that context, it made sense for Ash to drop everything to help preserve and protect the Coalition.
On the other hand, when Ash was aware of the loyalty training’s influence, she threw herself into a hard reverse and did everything in her power to resist it.
“You haven’t taken the booster yet, have you?” he asked.
Guilt flickered in her eyes. “No. It’s in my room. I can do it now.”
He nodded. “Go on. I’m going to get cleaned up, then I’ll meet you.”
A smile bent her lips, and his stomach jumped in response. She put her arms around his neck and rose up onto her toes to kiss him. For the first time in hours, he relaxed, giving in to the moment, to the kiss, to the feel of the woman pressed against him. He needed her. He needed to shut out the rest of the universe and the bleak futures that wanted to smother him.
She gave him one of her sultry grins when she broke the kiss, and it took everything in him not to follow immediately on her heels. He watched her walk away, and when she left the garage, he looked at Emmit.
Emmit had watched her walk away too. The man cleared his throat, gave Rykus a shrug, then turned back to the open panel where Rykus was very certain he was working on nothing.
“Tomorrow at noon?” Rykus asked.
“Yeah. Possibly late morning, but no earlier than that.”
Rykus nodded, waited a moment, and then said, “Have you seen Mira?”
“She was at the break yards when I left. Knowing her, she’s still there.”
“Ash won’t leave without her,” he said. “She might not leave with her either.”
Emmit’s tinkering slowed to a stop.
“You know Ash well,” Rykus said.
Emmit half turned away from the open panel. “Probably not as well as you.”
“But well enough. I need another set of eyes on her.”
Emmit finally looked at him. “You don’t trust her.”
No, he didn’t—not on this—but he wanted to avoid a conversation about anomalies and fail-safes, so he said, “I don’t trust Chace. If he finds out we’re leaving, he’ll try to stop us.”
“I don’t think Chace will cross her, but sure,” Emmit said. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Thank you, and thanks for helping us get out of here.” He nodded at the transport.
“No problem. I’ll let you know when the fuel’s loaded. Then we can head to the warehouse.”
Rykus left the garage, feeling marginally better, but Emmit’s help was the backup plan. The main plan was to keep Ash in sight at all times. Tonight wouldn’t be a problem. Tonight he would make sure Ash spent every second in his bed.