by Natalie Grey
“Just a second.” Nyx pulled Mala’s shirt up, yanking off the sports bra underneath and throwing them both across the room. Her fingers, accomplished on those ridiculous belts the Dragons all wore, were slipping Mala’s pants off the next second, and Nyx pushed her over gently onto the bed, grinning. “There. Much better.”
“This was supposed to be payback for the shuttle bay.”
“Tough luck. I like the idea of distractions.”
“So help me, God, if you tie me up and leave me here….” Mala was laughing as Nyx kissed her.
“Now, there’s an idea. Unfortunately, I don’t have any rope here.” Nyx picked her head up and considered. “Actually, I wouldn’t put that past Talon. I’ll check the closet at some point. Now, however, I have different plans.”
“You and your plans.” But Mala arched at the feel of Nyx’s mouth on her throat, hand drifting down to skim over the soft skin of her breast. “Oh, God.”
“Mmm.” Nyx’s voice vibrated against her skin. Her mouth moved down, and so did her fingers. “How soundproofed would you say your apartment is on Seneca?”
“Uh…” It took a moment to make sense of the words. Mala pressed her hand over her mouth to keep back a moan. “I don’t really know.”
“Well, we’ll have to check, won’t we? For now, though, you’re going to need to be quiet.” Her fingers slipped between Mala’s legs, and she laughed when Mala bit her lip on a cry.
“You’re evil.”
A laugh was her only answer. She trailed her lips along Mala’s ribcage, her lips feather-light, and dropped a single kiss on Mala’s hipbone. One hands found Mala’s, fingers interlocking as her mouth moved against Mala’s skin. When she heard Mala draw in her breath sharply, she was back, kissing her urgently, skin hot against skin and her mouth muffling Mala’s cries.
It was a few moments before Mala could open her eyes. She looked over lazily and laughed at the smug look on Nyx’s face. The other woman propped herself up on an elbow, smiling, but there was a shadow in her eyes. She brushed the hair off Mala’s forehead, clearly trying to find words.
“I’m coming with you,” Mala said quietly.
“You don’t have training, Mala. You don’t have armor.”
“You need me there,” Mala told her simply. “Is anything else relevant?”
“Yes! I can’t put you in danger.” What happiness there had been in her face was completely gone now. “Mala, please. Please, don’t do this.”
“Then how are you going to get in?”
“I’ll come up with something. Dragons always do.”
“Something like a bomb?”
“Maybe! I mean, that one is…”
“A bad idea?” Mala suggested. “No bombs. Hey, think about it this way. That bitch tortured me. By letting me open the doors, you’re helping me get payback. I’d be in your debt.”
“I don’t want you in my debt, I want you safe.” Nyx buried her face in Mala’s shoulder, holding her close. “Promise me something. As soon as we’re in, you take the shuttle back to the Ariane and you stay there. No matter what, okay?”
“We could both pretend I’d do that, but we both know I wouldn’t.” When Nyx drew away to speak, Mala laid a finger over her lips softly. “Shhh.”
“What are you—” Nyx drew in a sharp breath as Mala’s tongue traced along the line of her collarbone.
“I said, shhh.”
“I can’t just…”
“You don’t have any other option. So don’t think about it.” Mala kissed her. “Just be here with me, right now.”
43
“That’s it. Easy.” Loki’s voice echoed through their comms. He turned, graceful even in his spacesuit, and held out a hand as Mala floated toward him. His low murmurs guided her through the process of attaching her suit to the hull of the space station, his tone soothing; they could all hear Mala’s panicked breath as she tried to focus. “You’re doing great,” Loki told her.
“Thank you.” Her voice quavered, but she didn’t give in to an obvious desire to panic. Almost defiantly, she added, “I hate this.”
“Yep.” He was laughing, his commiseration obvious. “Me, too. The best I can say is you’ll get used to it. You ready to try going to the door?”
Nyx looked back at Esu, who was holding the shuttle steady in the dead zone between the turrets. The Dragons were clustered at the door, Nyx front and center, weapons trained on the station as the two tiny figures climbed up.
You know the drill, boss, Tersi had said quietly, back on the ship. Risk as few people as possible, leave the rest to cover them. And you’re commanding, so you stay back.
She understood; she was not an idiot. If Mala were a Dragon, she would have been sent out alone, and because she was not, she had a companion with the fastest reflexes and most finely-honed physical combat Nyx had ever seen. All of it made sense. It just scared her to hell and back. She kept her weapon level as the two tiny figures climbed toward the doors. The Ariane and the shuttle were both outfitted with the very best in cloaking technology, but the situation could change at any moment.
As Mala set to work on the door, Nyx was surprised to hear Loki’s voice in her ear on a private channel.
“You know we need to take her in with us.”
“We discussed this.” Nyx did not intend to give Mala the choice to go into the space station. Loki had been ordered to bring her back before the rest of the team set out.
“We did, and I haven’t heard a single convincing argument yet. We know how much tech is standing between us and Ghost. Not only can she get it open, she’s the one Ghost wants to see.”
“Not here. Ghost will kill her as soon as look at her.”
“Same with us. Which means our odds are better with an engineer.” One of the doors slid open, scaring Mala so that she reared back. Loki reached out to steady her, giving a reassuring pat on her shoulder. His channel switched wide again. “You’re doing great.”
“I’m not a horse,” Mala said testily. “I don’t need to be reassured.” She paused. “You won’t let me drift off, will you?”
“I won’t let you drift off.” Loki’s voice was heartfelt.
“Right.” Mala worked her way up laboriously and started on the second door. “Someone’s going to tell me if the cannons start charging up, right?”
“We’ve got eyes on that,” Nyx assured her. She switched her channel back to Loki. “See? Flamethrowers and cannons. It’s no place for a civilian.”
“What, because she might die?” Loki’s voice was oddly dispassionate.
“What do you mean, because she might—yes! That’s exactly why.”
“Hate to tell you, boss, but that’s what you do with your assets: you put them to use. The second you realized you needed her for these doors, you started down that path. Think about Talon.”
“For the last time, this is not the same.” Nyx’s voice held a bite to it. Talon’s lover was an assassin. Mala was an Intelligence Analyst.
“So think of Cade,” Loki said flatly.
Nyx fell silent. Cade Williams had left the Corps after a mission that still haunted them all, his spirit broken by the lives he had sacrificed to take down a slave trader. Though he had sworn never to take up arms again, he had joined the woman he loved in the rebellion on Ymir, following her into danger as her protector.
“This isn’t the same,” Nyx said again, but weakly.
“She wants to take Ghost down as much as we do. Boss, we found out about Ghost a few weeks ago. Mala’s been stalking her for months, and you know she has the same stupid sense of justice you do. She’s not going to let this woman slip through her fingers.”
“She’s not trained to—”
“I’m not saying put her in front with me and Jester. I’m saying use her how you can.”
The second set of doors opened with a snap, and Mala’s voice echoed over the comms: “Loki, I need you at the top of the doors with…one sec…this.” She handed something over. “
When I give you the signal, clamp this on the top of the frame and flip that lever.”
“Right.” Loki moved up the door and positioned himself in one corner before giving a thumbs up and switching his channel back. “Come on, boss. I don’t even think she knows we’re here yet.”
“You’re lying to me.”
“Is it making you feel better?”
“Not by a lot.” Nyx sighed and resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes shut; now was not going to be a good time to look away. “Fine.”
“And before you blame me later, I want to remind you that there’s no way in hell I could have convinced you unless you thought this was the right decision.”
“I really hate you sometimes, you know that? You—” Nyx broke off as the doors slammed open and the rush of air blew past Mala and Loki’s heads. Mala gave a little whimper that resonated in their comms, but she slammed her object into place just as Loki attached his.
“Done!” Two voices filtered back.
“Into the airlock.” Nyx’s voice was curt. “Move.”
The Dragons launched themselves out of the shuttle, arrowing down into the airlock in formation, and she gave a nod to Esu before following them. Jester’s hand reached out to grab hers and pull her into the airlock as Mala closed the doors behind them once more. They were plunged into darkness and Nyx turned on her suit light for them to get into formation.
“Are you ready?” Mala’s voice was impressively steady.
“Yes.” Nyx could not manage more than one syllable. You remember? Get behind the door as soon as it opens and stay there until we say it’s clear. But she had gone over this with Mala a dozen times, even when she’d told herself she’d be taking the woman back to the ship by force. Mala knew what she had to do.
She was half-ready to call it all off when the doors opened with a blast. A thin corridor stretched toward another airlock door that Nyx knew could slam down without warning. But the guards clearly had not been expecting an attack. They were turning toward the unexpected sound, much too slowly, and they went down before they could even bring their weapons up.
“Delta group forward.” Nyx stayed in place as Aegis and Jester advanced, Loki and Esu on their heels. They burst into the cross hallway, shouting locations back to one another as they dropped to a crouch. There was a long moment of silence before Sim tapped an all-clear. “Bravo group forward.” Nyx watched as four Dragons more streamed through the hallway, going unerringly to the right to follow the pathway they knew led to the heart of the station. “Alpha and Charlie, we’re on their heels. Delta, you’ll bring up the rear. Mala, you stick with Aegis and Jester. We’ll bring you forward if we need you.”
“Got it.” Mala’s voice was unsure, but she nodded her head as Nyx looked over.
I won’t let anyone hurt you. I won’t ever let anyone hurt you. Nyx gave her a nod as she followed with the Charlie group, moving past Loki and the rest with a nod and taking her place at the furthest point of advance. She watched as Bravo moved up past them, and then Alpha, before she and her team advanced once more. Delta would stay at the rear to keep Mala safe, and the other three groups would get them through the ship.
They hit the first set of locked doors two hallways in. It was eerily quiet, no alarms disturbing the air, and everyone looked at one another. Either the airlocks alone were manned throughout the station, and all of the troops were elsewhere… Or there was an attack massing on the other side of the door.
“Bring Mala up,” Nyx ordered.
“We should actually go back.” Mala’s voice echoed in their helmets. “There’s a garbage chute back that way. It should lead up the mess hall. Isn’t that what you said was your first stop?”
“Yes. You’re sure this one leads there?”
“Yeah. And this was a Class D freighter—those were all built after some accidents that…well, not important. There are ladders in the garbage chutes. Just handholds, but they work.”
“I like her,” Esu said quietly. “Can we keep her around?”
“Quiet. Beta, you head back first.” But Nyx was smiling.
It was a short, albeit unpleasant, climb toward the mess hall. There was no keeping out the stink of the chute, and Nyx was determined to scrub every piece of her armor with pure bleach at the next opportunity. When the line of Dragons stopped abruptly, she resisted the urge to demand information. Your team knows what to do, Talon said; it was one of his few pieces of advice. Don’t get in their way.
“Boss, there is no one there.” Li did not sound pleased.
“Right.” Nyx considered. “Advance on both exits, and do it fast. Delta, you come out with Mala only when the coast is clear.”
The Dragons burst into motion, whispering to one another as they streamed through the mess hall, the rest of them climbing as quickly as they could behind. Nyx was out the chute and through the kitchen in seconds, taking up position midway through the hall. Li was right, the place was eerily silent. And at the end, a set of blast doors were sealed already.
“Everyone seal your suits off.” Nyx looked around. “Get away from the side exit. I think they’re going to try venting this room. We’ll try opening those doors as soon as we get through. Loki, you get Mala to the far corner.”
But she had bargained wrong. As they hurried across the floor, there was the unmistakable flicker of a laser on Mala’s helmet.
“Nobody move,” Ghost’s voice said over the loudspeaker.
44
Mala froze, her heart pounding. She had seen the flash of red light in her eyes and the hastily indrawn breath that came over the comms was enough to tell her what it was. Beside her, Loki had frozen, but his hand slowly squeezed around hers, a comfort that made her want to cry.
The doors at the end of the room slid open and the senator entered. She was still wearing the nondescript grey suit she always wore in press interviews, astonishingly out of place in this space station. The guards who streamed in around her only heightened the sense of the ridiculous. These were not Secret Service, unflappable and elegant, but hired mercenaries with mismatched armor and an air that said clearly that they were not afraid to be staring down the Dragons.
Mala turned her head slowly to throw a look across the room to where she knew Nyx was crouched. She would not be able to see through the woman’s visor, but Nyx would be able to see her face—and know how sorry she was. She would know, too—Mala hoped—that the Dragons should go for the senator. It was a choice Mala was trying not to think about just now.
Oh, God. She wasn’t ready to die. But as her eyes scanned to the side of the room, she saw three figures instead of four. Nyx was gone.
She couldn’t think of that right now. Mala looked back to the senator, who was smiling at the array of guns before her. She was aware of her position here: a senator, a woman who held their civilian cohort hostage. The Dragons were not going to move against her while Mala was in the crossfire, and they wanted their suspect alive.
“You came back,” the senator said to Mala. She smiled lazily, but there was curiosity in her gaze. “Why? Were you the mastermind behind Grose after all? He’s dead, by the way.”
Mala swallowed hard.
“I wasn’t anyone,” she said quietly. She lifted her chin. “I was a nobody. My name is Mala Brennan. I paid everything I had to get to Seneca from Dobrevi when I was twenty, and I met a woman on that flight who told me her life story—most of it. And then she got sick, and because I’d told her who I was, she made me promise to take her ID card and her apartment, just until I could get back on my feet.”
The senator’s face had changed.
“I’m nobody,” Mala whispered again. She was smiling bitterly. “I’m not Eve Orion. I never knew a goddamned thing about any of this until I picked up the fluctuations in the market a few months ago. Even then, it would have gone nowhere if Grose hadn’t found me.” She looked away bitterly. “I guess he was right to suspect you.”
“He was right to think that I would kill anyone who tu
rned on me.” The senator’s voice was flat. She walked forward slowly, heels clicking on the station floor. She seemed oblivious to her guards and the Dragons eyeing one another warily.
“You had no intentions of disclosing how big this operation was,” Mala said flatly. “You were going to screw all of them out of their share. And you’re a senator! You’re a senator who campaigned against corruption!”
“My dear, that is simply expected in this business.” Now the woman sounded bored. “Don’t tell me you’re outraged over that.”
“Why shouldn’t I be?”
“For one thing, you’re a criminal as well.”
“You just admitted to killing a man in cold blood,” Mala spat at her. “Didn’t you?”
“My dear, do you have a point?”
“My point is that I have enough to put you away forever,” Mala told her. She stared the woman down as she approached. Visceral fear kept her at once rooted in place, and wanting nothing more than to run. There was a coldness in this woman’s eyes that Mala had never seen before. She would shoot someone without even caring; she would slit throats, she would do anything she needed to do, and every possibility was clearly playing out in her head, Mala dying over and over in her mind’s eye. Mala swallowed down the urge to vomit.
“So you came here to kill me,” the woman said. “How terribly sad that you’re about to fail at that, my dear. Because, you see, you were a nobody once. But now you’re someone who knows too much, and has too much backup. If it were just you, my dear, perhaps we could come to an agreement, you and I. I hear I can be very persuasive. But these Dragons…”
“They’ll—they’ll back off if I tell them to,” Mala said desperately, words tumbling out of her mouth. Her voice was high. “I’ll keep quiet. I will. You wouldn’t even have to pay me much. Not much. I’d keep quiet. You could keep your place in the senate and—”
“And put up with those prattling fools all my life? I think not. And you’re just like them.” The woman sneered at her. “Do you not understand the situation? You’re about to die. No one will ever know you were here, and when it comes out that someone named Eve Orion went missing, no one will even figure out who you were. I’ll keep it quiet. I have that power. No one is going to miss you, Mala Brennan. You and your little Dragon friends are going to die here and now. And as soon as everything is in place in the senate, I will be free to leave Seneca forever.”
