CHAPTER 21

I must be hallucinating. From the blood loss. Eli resisted the urge to slap himself in the face with the hand that wasn’t slung over Addy’s shoulders.

But he could feel her muscles tense and, from the looks on Taylor’s and Tapper’s faces, he wasn’t the only one seeing the head of the White Star Syndicate and one of the galaxy’s most ruthless crime lords – a crime lord from under whose nose they’d very nearly stolen a treasured artifact just six months ago – standing in the cargo hold of their ship.

“Is this all of you?” Xi asked, looking around. Her eyelids, painted a startling electric blue, batted once. “I had been looking forward to my next encounter with your boss. Major Kovalic.”

“He’s not available right now,” said Tapper. “But we can take a message.”

A flash of annoyance crossed her features and she snapped her fingers in the direction of one of the armed goons, who stepped forward and casually punched Tapper in the face. The sergeant let out a muffled oof, then cracked his neck and favored the man who’d hit him with a grin streaked with a fine thread of blood. “Not bad, but keep working on it,” he advised, “someday maybe you’ll make it to the big leagues.”

The goon pulled back his fist for a second go, but Xi sighed and waved a hand in his direction, and he straightened and stepped back. “I do so detest violence, of course. Well, if Kovalic isn’t here, which one of you is in charge?” Her dark eyes took them each in turn. “Adelaide, not you, I think. And not the mouthy one… I believe you went by Trevelyan on the Queen Amina, though I’m sure that’s not your real name.”

Unconsciously, Eli tried to make himself small, hunching over, but he still couldn’t escape the woman’s gaze. “You’re the one who broke into my vault.” Anger flared in her eyes before she could tamp it down. “The buffoon.” She flicked her fingers at him, as if trying to dislodge a leftover piece of food.

“Hey!” Eli protested weakly. OK, I did shoot out of a gravtube like an uncorked bottle of champagne, so I guess that’s fair.

But Xi had already moved on, turning to look down at Taylor, who was sitting quietly at the table. “That leaves you. I don’t know you.” Her head cocked to one side. “That in itself tells me that you’re a professional. So let’s assume you are in charge of this… operation. What’s your name?”

Taylor’s chin came up, her eyes hard. “Radha Vinson.”

Xi looked skeptical. “I’m sure it isn’t, but I’ll let you have that one. So, then… Major Vinson, is it? I’m delighted to make your acquaintance. I’m sorry that you’ll have to preside over the loss of your team; I’m sure that will ruffle some feathers back in the Commonwealth. I wish I could say it’s nothing personal…” Her expression hardened. “But it is. It’s very personal. You stole from me. I can’t have people steal from me and walk away – it’s bad for business.” She stalked over towards Addy, and, if anything, she looked even angrier. “An example needs to be made.”

Addy was just barely holding herself in check, Eli could tell. Every muscle in her neck was taut, standing out like cords. He leaned more heavily on her, which he told himself was to remind her that she wasn’t on her own, but also because the adrenaline was starting to wear off and he actually needed the support.

Getting shot really hurts – who knew?

“You’re not going to kill us,” said Taylor.

Xi didn’t turn, still holding Addy’s gaze. “No?” she said. “What makes you think that?”

Taylor gestured to their current predicament. “You’ve got half a dozen people with guns pointed at us, Madam Xi. If you were going to kill us, they’d have done it already. We’re alive and talking, which means you want something.”

Xi’s eyes sparkled. “I’m never wrong about people – though they sometimes disappoint.” Her glance flicked to Addy, and then away again as though she might be contagious. Lowering herself into an empty seat at the table as gracefully as if she were arranging an elegant gown, Xi folded her hands. “So, what is it I want?”

Eli looked rapidly back and forth between the two women and Tapper, on whose cheek a red spot was rapidly blooming. Well, I don’t think that’s a table I’d want a seat at. Unstoppable force, meet immovable object.

For her part, Taylor was assessing the other woman with her usual piercing gaze. “I’m not usually one to lay a wager, but I know you’re a woman who doesn’t capriciously discard something that might be useful. My team and I are an asset – and you know this because we were able to compromise your security.”

A flash of anger crossed Xi’s face, but she ironed it out like a wrinkled shirt. “Quite so. You and your team proved most resourceful in breaking into my vault and stealing my property. Amongst other betrayals.” This time she pointedly did not look in Addy’s direction, though Eli could feel that it was taking everything the younger woman had not to spring across the hold. “That’s no small feat. And though there’s a part of me that would take great pleasure in having you dragged across the surface of this moon while dangling from a low-flying ship… well, I haven’t gotten where I am in life by giving in to those baser impulses. At least, not all the time.”

I actually might take her up on the low-flying ship offer; if the gravity’s just right you might even be able to sell tickets. Eli’s vision swam suddenly, his knees wavering.

Half a dozen weapons snapped towards him at the movement and, if it weren’t for Addy, he probably would have collapsed onto the deck in a boneless jelly. But she grunted and tightened the arm around his waist, keeping him just barely upright.

“Uh, sorry about that,” Eli managed. “Anybody mind if I sit down?”

Taylor’s focus on Xi momentarily broken, she glanced sharply in his direction. “Everything all right?”

“We had a run-in with the local security dipshit,” said Addy, gritting her teeth. “Who I’m assuming was on your payroll?” She jerked her head in Xi’s direction, without favoring the woman with a look.

Xi, for her part, merely shrugged. “I’m sure you’re aware that I placed bounties on you after our encounter on the Queen Amina. I got a message from Security Chief… what was his name? Patel, yes. He sent word as soon as you landed last night. Fortunately, I was already in the vicinity, so I took my fastest ship and here we are. But if you killed him, then you saved me some money.”

Addy’s nose wrinkled. So much for bribing the dockmaster. He must have passed all our IDs along to Patel anyway – I guess he knows where his bread is buttered. “Patel will live. But he was the trigger-happy sort and…” she hesitated, then sighed, “…Easy here took a round. He should be OK, but he could probably use more attention than I was able to give him with a field medkit.”

The weapons of Xi’s goons shifted suddenly as Taylor started to get to her feet; she put her hands up, palms out.

“Where do you think you’re going?” said Xi.

“One of my team needs medical attention, and I’m the best trained.”

Xi raised an eyebrow. “Really? Him? How important could he be?”

Hey. Eli opened his mouth to protest, but his knees went wobbly again, and he thought better of it.

“Every member of my team is important,” said Taylor. One slim eyebrow went up. “But perhaps you wouldn’t do the same for one of your people.”

A roll of the eyes signified what Xi thought of that particular gambit. “Very well.” She beckoned to one of her goons and gave him a murmured instruction; the man slung his weapon behind his back, then walked over to Addy and Eli. He was built like a small tank, all muscle, with a blunt nose and eyes that were too close together. As though he were handling a baby bird, he took Eli’s arm from around Addy’s shoulders and put it over his own. “Andres will see to him while we get down to brass tacks. Where’s your medbay?”

Taylor hesitated, clearly torn between trusting Xi or using her minuscule amounts of leverage to insist on treating Eli herself. It’s not worth it, commander, Eli thought, giving her a short shake of the head. She’d need all her wits about her to deal with Xi, and he didn’t want to be a distraction. “Down the corridor,” she said, nodding to a hatchway across the cargo hold. “Second right.”

Addy released her grip on Eli’s waist only reluctantly, shifting her weight to the balls of her feet. “You OK?”

“Oh, yeah, peachy,” Eli said. There was a deep ache in his side that had been slowly spreading and intensifying over the last few minutes. “I think I need a nap.”

“I’ll check on you in a little bit,” she promised.

And with that, Andres ushered Eli out of the cargo hold, and towards the medbay. Hope they can manage without me. He stifled a laugh, and was pretty sure he caught the goon giving him a weird look.

But he proved, to Eli’s surprise, to be an incredibly competent and – perhaps more shockingly – gentle medic. With Eli up on the gurney, Andres donned a pair of blue gloves from one of the compartments in the bay, then carefully and methodically removed the patch that Addy had applied and checked the sealant. Nodding his approval of the work, he added some more antibiotic gel via a syringe inserted in the plug, and neatened the edges, then put on new bandages, front and back.

All his ministrations lulled Eli into a state of complacency, drifting off as his wound was tended to. So much so, that he didn’t notice the hypo until it was being pressed against his neck, the soft hiss sending him jerking up on his elbows.

“What the fuck was that?!” But the room was already blurring and spinning around him.

Guess I’m getting that nap after al–