The Star Thief (28 page)

Viktis found her a few hours later in the same bar where she’d first spotted him. He pulled up a chair at her table and plunked down two beers. “You look like shit. I thought you were going to go get some sleep.”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” She rubbed her gritty eyes and glared at him.

“Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Viktis’s expression turned smug. “Wall found something interesting in those drugs you gave him.”

“He’s done already?”

“Told you he was good.” Viktis took a sip of his beer, as if he knew the delay would whet her appetite. At this point she didn’t care. She needed some good news for a change.

“What did he find?”

“He’s never seen the chemical compounds before. Doesn’t know what they’re supposed to do. But the base material is clay. Someone is using the drug as a carrier.”

“So clay and…”

“That’s the interesting part. It’s a mixture of elements Wall’s never seen. It’s got a structure similar to the voidonite used in developing implants, but there’s an added component he can’t identify.” Viktis scanned the room before dropping his voice. “He thinks it could be some sort of anti-rejection drug. Like the old kind humans used to use back in the twentieth century. From what he can tell, it’s a cytotoxin that seems to lower the immune system and allow this new chemical to integrate into the nervous system.”

Renna stared down into her beer. The mercs at the facility all had had implants. Could this drug be an experimental new development to make the tech better?

“Does he have any idea where the new mineral comes from?” she asked.

“Only a few planets even contain the trace chemical. Banos Prime, Lenue, and Vall. A few others.”

Her fingers tightened around the glass as something pinged in her memory. The feeling was gone a moment later. But it was certainly convenient some of those were the same planets that had been attacked.

“What? I recognize that look. You know something.” Viktis leaned forward to stare at her.

Renna wished the Ileth were as easy to read as humans, but their angular facial structure made their expressions inscrutable most of the time. Could she trust him? Viktis always had his own agenda. As soon as it didn’t line up with hers, she’d need to watch her back.

She chose her words carefully. “The people I’m working for who want to find the boy? They’re also investigating attacks on certain planets. Some of which—if you’re right—are the same as where this chemical is found. We need to figure out how the two are connected.”

Viktis ran a hand over the bone plates on his skull. “Interesting. I bet this information would be worth a lot to them.”

“I’m sure it will. Too bad I’m not charging them for it.” She narrowed her eyes. “I work for them now, remember?”

“Right. Renna’s on the straight and narrow. An era has ended in this part of the traverse.”

“And you’ll be more than happy to step in and take my place?”

“Of course. I may not be as pretty as you, but I do have exceptional…skills.” The smirk twisting his lips left her in no doubt of the innuendo. “How about we go back to my place and I can fill you in on what I’ve learned? I promise it’ll be even better than last time.” His voice dropped to a rough growl.

For a split second, she wanted to take him up on his offer. Viktis was safe. She wouldn’t have to worry about her heart with him. And a little stress release was exactly what she needed. The things he could do with those clever fingers…

She squirmed in her seat and shook the thought away. She’d gone down that road once already. Then he’d tried to kill her.

Besides, it wasn’t Viktis that her body desperately craved. And she damn well knew it.

She smiled reluctantly. “I think I’m better off getting some of that sleep you all keep telling me I need. But thanks for the offer. Catch up with you tomorrow? We can pay a visit to Wall.”

Disappointment flashed across Viktis’ face, but he nodded. “Want me to walk you back to the ship?”

“Nah, I’m fine.” She stood up and cracked her knuckles. “I’m itching for a fight. I hope some fool decides a woman is easy prey.”

Viktis chuckled. “I feel sorry for anyone who gets on your bad side. Have a good night, love.”

Renna walked through the darkened city, inhaling cool air scented with metal and sand. Bright helolights shone down from the buildings, illuminating spots on the sidewalk, casting shadows outside the circle of light. The streets were still full of people bustling past on their way home or to the nightclubs serving as entertainment on this planet. Hover cars sped through the sky, beeping and swerving to avoid traffic. This spaceport was a backwater hellhole, but even here, the march of technology moved on. She’d spotted three new Starzales already, and they’d only been on the market for six months.

Was she an idiot for turning down Viktis? Even if it slipped into something past one night, she already knew what life would be like with him—full of adventure, good jobs. It would be so easy to slip back into that, to postpone her retirement. She wasn’t really the type to lounge on a beach anyway.

Renna sighed and shoved her hands into her pockets. She knew this urge, knew exactly what it was; she was running again. She did it every time things got too complicated. And this situation with Myka and Finn and MYTH was pretty much the definition of complicated.

What the hell was she going to do about Finn?

When she was a kid, he’d been an unattainable crush. The four-year age difference had been a chasm between them, even when she was sixteen and he was twenty. And then he’d died, and she’d buried all those feelings, as well as her desire to trust. His abandonment had been the last straw after a lifetime of other rejections.

She’d kept a tight rein on her heart since then, but now, here she was with a team behind her. With Finn at her side. And she hated to admit it, but it felt good. She’d been strong on her own, had loved the freedom. But it was exhausting, always having to watch her back, waiting for the next up-and-comer to come gunning for her.

A gust of wind blew a loose piece of paper down the street, bringing the smell of starfuel and exhaust from the traffic lanes. Her hair whipped around her face, and she pushed it behind her ears. Could she give up everything she’d worked for to be part of this team?

The
Athena
was docked at one of the landing bays nearest the city center. MYTH status would do that for you. She blinked in the bright helolights as she entered the hangar and made for the ship. The facility was clean and well-lit, with mechanics and security both on staff twenty-four hours a day. Quite a bit different from the seedy ports she was used to using.

Renna pressed her hand to the scanner at the door of the ship and the automated voice responded, “Welcome, Renna Carrizal. Please enter your security code.”

She typed in her code, and the door slid open with a swoosh.

Most of the CIC deck was empty, just a few techs still manning the computers or performing last-minute checks. She ignored them as she made her way down to her cabin. All she wanted was a shower and bed. In that order.

Keva appeared instantly in her doorway as Renna passed. “Renna! How’s the captain?”

Had the woman been waiting for her all this time? “He’s doing well. Doc says he could be back onboard in a couple of days.”

Relief flooded the woman’s features, and Renna wondered again about Keva’s feelings for her boss. A sudden twinge of sympathy flooded through her. The man was easy to lust after, despite being infuriating. And Keva was exactly the type of woman he needed in this life. Honorable. Trustworthy. Someone who followed orders. Maybe it would be better for everyone if she left now. Before anyone else got hurt.

Before she got hurt.

Keva smiled. “That’s such great news. I’ll have to go check on him first thing in the morning.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.” Renna stifled a yawn behind her hand. “Night, Lieutenant.”

“Goodnight, Renna.”

Sergeant Gheewala stopped Renna before she could leave the ship the next morning. The woman twitched even more than usual, her eyes darting round the command center before pulling Renna into an empty navigation pod.

“What’s going on, Sergeant?” Renna asked.

“I’ve been hearing things.”

From anyone else, Renna might have laughed, but from Gheewala, that meant trouble.

“What kinds of things?”

The sergeant shook her head. “That’s the problem. I don’t recognize them. Whatever it is has no signatures to read. It’s just white noise, different than the rest of the galaxy. And there’s something beyond it. Something coming this way.” Her voice quivered on the last word.

Renna frowned. “Have you told Keva? They need to make sure the ship is ready to go if we’re attacked again.”

“I told her.”

“Good. I’ll make sure to let Major Larson know, too. I think we should be prepared for anything.”

Gheewala nodded. “I’m glad you’re here, Miss Carrizal.”

“Renna, please.” She smiled at the sergeant. “One of these days you will all remember to call me by my first name.”

Gheewala laughed, a nervous, schoolgirl twitter. “I’ll try my best.”

“Good. Now go find Corporal Bokal and tell him what you told me. Also, tell him I said to ready the
Athena
for takeoff. We need her on standby in case what you heard shows up.”

Renna left the ship, making her way through the port toward the Warehouse District. She didn’t like Gheewala’s news. It meant whoever was attacking the planets might be on their way here. She needed to get her information and get the hell out of here before they arrived.

As she reached Wall’s warehouse, her implant beeped with an incoming transmission.

“Just knock. Runner will let you in,” Viktis’s voice said in her ear.

“How did you know I was here?” she asked.

“I have my ways.”

She could hear the smile in his voice and shook her head. She’d have to search for a tracking device. Knowing Viktis, he’d slipped one on her yesterday. If she’d been thinking, she’d have done the same to him.

She knocked sharply on the metal door, and it swung open.

“Go on back, they’re waiting for you,” Runner said with a grin. She noticed he was missing a front tooth since yesterday.

“Must have been a hell of a fight.”

He nodded. “But you should see the other guy.”

Renna made her way through the warehouse, pausing in the doorway to Wall’s lab. The other men who’d been working there yesterday were nowhere to be seen. The place felt eerily quiet. Even the crates of clay she’d spotted were gone, leaving faint outlines of orange dust on the floor. And only a lingering trace of the burnt-sugar smell.

“What’s going on?” she asked. Her palms itched, and she let one of her hands drift down to the pistol at her hip.

Wall looked up from his microscope. “Just a precaution. Whatever it is you got yourself involved with is big time, Miss Carrizal, and I’m not going to take any chances with my business. I’ve relocated.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I’ve never seen a drug like this before. And I’ve seen it all. Whoever created this was a genius. Or a madman. On the surface it seems like a refined version of clay in pill form, but laced throughout is a strange element that makes the clay act differently.”

“But you’re not sure what it does?”

Wall shook his head. “No. It seems like it could be an immunosuppressant or an anti-rejection drug because of the clay and the cytotoxins laced throughout. But until I know what this new element does, I couldn’t even begin to guess.”

Renna sighed and tugged at the ends of her hair. “And the only planets it’s found on…”

“Are the ones I told you about last night. Still hasn’t changed, Renna.” Viktis leaned against one of the empty work tables, suddenly materializing as if out of thin air. “I did a little more research since I had plenty of time to kill.” He raised a mocking eyebrow. “Whatever it is, nobody’s seen it before. At least not that I could find.”

But he was wrong. Someone knew what this drug was. Dr. Aldani’s words came back to her in a rush: “
My brother and his wife were working on an experimental drug…
”