by M. D. Cooper
“What took you so long?” Rogers asked.
“Maverick,” Kylie replied. “He just wouldn’t shut up about how beating Vaax at her own game was so delicious. He’s practically ecstatic. I couldn’t just duck out, he’d get pissed and lash out. Sometimes it’s just easier to let him get it out of his system.”
“Oh, he’s going to be a joy to have as president,” Winter said with a slow shake of his head. “The man makes me look thoughtful.”
Kylie didn’t know about that. For all the lust, rage, and anger that Maverick kept at the surface, there was a deeper man beneath than she had ever given him credit for.
Kylie took off her jacket and draped it across a chair. “So, did you find anything?”
“No Lana, if that’s what you’re asking,” Rogers said. “But we found something.”
Winter paused his spinning long enough to place several blonde hairs down on the table. “I know it’s a long shot but Vaax hasn’t had any blonde days that we’ve seen.”
Kylie picked it up.
Marge was probably exaggerating, but Kylie considered that she had no idea how old Marge was.
The hairs dissolved into her skin, and Kylie did her best not to be thoroughly creeped out.
“Cool trick,” Rogers said.
Winter rose and paced back and forth, and Kylie could see the worry behind his eyes. “She really means something to you, doesn’t she?”
He snorted. “Other than the fact that she can be a pain in the ass, or if we sold her, it would get us a lot of money?”
Rogers leaned back in his chair. “You should’ve seen him at Vaax’s office when he found the hair. Guy damned well emoted. Not anger, either.”
“Shut it, Rogers.” Winter sent a glare in his direction.
“It’s true, Cap. He cares about Lana more than he pretends.”
Winter sighed. “So, what if I do? Is it a crime to care about someone other than myself?”
“For you, usually.” Kylie smirked. “Where did you find the hair anyway?”
“Private suite. Near her bedroom but on the floor,” Rogers said. “There was an imprint in the rug like something large had recently been moved. I snapped a few photos of it. Can I pass them off to Marge?”
“Go for it,” Kylie said and turned her attention back to Winter. “We’ll get her back, I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I should have kept my distance from the damn girl like you said.”
“I am often right and you rarely listen.”
Winter snorted.
“So, did you, or did you not…” Rogers made a winky face at Winter and his tongue clicked against his cheek.
“None of your business,” Winter grumbled, but the answer was plain as day on his face. He and Lana had slept together.
“Winter!” Both Rogers and Kylie scolded him.
“What!” Winter flailed his hands out at them. “She asked me for it. Damned near begged me for it and man, it was the ride of my life, I’ll tell you that. Whatever is going on with her—”
Kylie didn’t want to hear anymore. “Whatever indeed. She’s been erratic. Emotional. Can’t control her impulses and now look at where that’s led us.”
“Led us to Lana screwing the pooch,” Rogers said dryly. “Literally.”
Winter’s eyes bulged. “Did you just call me a dog?”
Rogers straightened up in his chair.
Kylie rubbed her face. “Okay, Vaax has Lana. So where is she now?”
“Think she got her off station?” Winter asked.
Kylie shook her head. “Doubtful. I think Vaax encouraged the lockdown so that when she does ship Lana out, there will be a thousand ships leaving in short order. Picking one out will be well-nigh impossible.
“If we unseat Vaax,” Kylie mused, “I may be able to get Maverick’s help in finding Lana. Especially if we do it to mollify General Samuel. Mav’s not going to want to piss off the SSF on his first day.”
“I think he’d ransom her back,” Winter said. “She’s worth big money and Maverick loves money more than he loves girls.”
Rogers laughed. “He’ll control the whole system. I’m sure he’ll ransom her back, but it’ll be for a stack of favors. It’ll also cement him with the SA. Remember he controls what delegates get sent to the Alliance.”
“Rogers is right,” Kylie said. “This is his new game—his new high. I saw it in his eyes; he wants this more than anything he’s ever striven for. If he finds Lana, and I help him, he’ll hand her over.”
Winter shook his head. “You trust Maverick too much.”
“It’s not trust,” Kylie insisted. “I know how he works. He rewards you if you help him.”
“Yeah, and if you cross him, you’re dead,” Rogers said. “We’ve all seen that up close and personal.”
That Kylie had. Which was part of the reason she went to great lengths not to double-cross him—unless ordered to by the SSF, at least.
Winter crossed his arms. “Which brings me back to my point. He kept you as one of his girls longer than most. Some only last a week. Maybe a month. You lasted years. Yet you seem to somehow trust him. You’re still as tied to him now, as much as when he kept you on a chain.”
“There was a chain?” Rogers whispered with wide eyes.
“A collar. And it was at least somewhat tasteful,” Kylie said. “I’m not blinded to the fact I was a slave. I survived. Maverick let me go and he gave me this ship.”
“But as long as you keep helping him. You’re still not really free, girl. I thought one of these days you’d figure that out, but instead you seem to be getting deeper and deeper with Maverick the longer we’re out here.”
That wasn’t true? Was it? On the rare occasions Winter had been insightful, he hadn’t been wrong. Maybe she did feel a strange loyalty to Maverick. She had been scared of him from time to time. Sometimes she had loathed him, but he had kept her safe. Protected her and treated her better than most of his girls.
Whatever the answer was, Kylie didn’t think she was going to figure it out that night.
“Stars…we have to get off this station,” Rogers said. “Being this close to all this political scheming is making me break out in a rash.”
Winter snorted.
“I’m serious. You want to see the cream I’m being forced to bathe in?”
Kylie patted his shoulder. “I’ll get you some extra strength lotion if I can.”
“As long as we leave before Maverick makes us sing the GFF anthem and go to the official lacrosse games.”
“Sports and gambling. It’s a big part of the GFF’s revenue,” Winter said.
“You’d know,” Rogers said. “You piss away all your money on that stuff.”
Winter put his hands through his hair. “Fuck!”
“Easy,” Kylie held out her hand. “Check surveillance footage. Marge, do you think your AI friends will help us?”
She turned her attention to the boys. “I’m going to go down to the detention center and see if I can take Nadine home yet. Chances are Lana’s already on a
ship, or on her way. Get back to the Dauntless. If Marge finds anything, be ready to move at a moment’s notice.”
Rogers nodded. “Anything’s better than hanging out here and spinning in chairs.”
Kylie put a hand on Winter’s shoulder. “We’ll get her back.”
“This is why I don’t do attachment.” Winter shrugged her hand off and rose from his chair, walked to the door and peered out into the hall before leaving the room.
Rogers followed Winter out, but stopped in the doorway. “I’ll talk to him when he calms down. I’d rather avoid getting punched.”
“Wise move,” Kylie replied.
Rogers closed the door, and Kylie waited several minutes so they wouldn’t exit the building together. Once enough time had passed, she slipped out into the hallway and walked to the lift.
When the doors opened on the ground floor, the ordered chaos seemed more intense than usual. There wasn’t the air of panic, but it was close.
She gasped when she saw the SSF fleet approaching The Futz.
Marge replied simply.
It was sound advice, and Kylie ran from the building toward the crowded maglev platform across the park.
As she wove through the crowds, she wondered how Vaax would handle the invasion. Technically she was still president pro-tem, but for all intents and purposes, Maverick was about to seize that from her.
Kylie hoped that was a situation she could avoid but she couldn’t risk her ship.
* * * * *
Nadine paced back and forth the confined space.
It wasn’t bad as far as cells went. She had seen worse, even been in worse on various missions for The Hand.
Being behind bars didn’t bother her. With the nano she had as a member of the Transcend’s Clandestine Uplift Directorate, she had internal tech far more advanced than the luddites running the detention center.
Any time she wanted out, she’d be out.
Of course, that would blow her cover with Kylie.
Kylie. Nadine had been under lockdown for over twelve hours and Kylie had yet to visit. It was possible that she had tried but couldn’t get in. But Nadine had a feeling that wasn’t the case. Kylie was a power house, a force to be reckoned with wherever she went. It was one of the reasons Nadine had picked her as the best target to achieve her mission’s goal.
If Kylie had wanted in, she would have gotten in. The fact that she hadn’t…
Had she discovered the truth? Did that mean everything between them was over? It was always bound to happen eventually, but not until after the mission was complete.
She shook her head to clear the worry away. It was stupid. Nadine had a job; Kylie had been that job for five years and now that Kylie’s brother David had made contact, Nadine was so close to getting where she needed to be.
So close. It couldn’t be over yet.
Nadine sighed and sat on the edge of her cot, and did her best not to think of how pissed Petra would be. She stared out through the grav field at the armed guards posted against the far wall, and then craned her head to look at the other two near the door at the end of the corridor.
Taking them out would be hard, but not impossible. She’d fought more and won. But how many guards were on the other size of that door. A dozen? A hundred?
It was too risky.
Then the door at the end of the hall opened, and Nadine craned her head around to see who was coming. It was none other than Chief Detective Lawrence. He had spoken with her a few times, but she hadn’t expected him to come by again so soon.
He palmed the control next to the grav field and it shut off.
“More questions, so soon?”
He shook his head. “We don’t have enough evidence to hold you. You’re free to go.”
Nadine smiled and relief flooded through her. “That’s such great news, thank you!” She stepped out of her holding cell and followed the detective down the corridor and through the doors.
“Your girlfriend is here to take you back to your ship, or wherever you need to go.” The detective slid open the door to a private interview room. Inside, she could see Kylie embedding a physical token on a sheet of plas with her back to the door.
“Collect your stuff. Show yourself out.” The detective left Nadine in the room and she did what he had asked, picking her bag and her belongings off the table.
“Kylie,” Nadine said softly in the hope that Kylie might turn around and look at her. “Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure if you…would.” She swallowed hard when Kylie did turn around. Her eyes were sadder than Nadine had hoped, but they weren’t unkind.
“Of course, I’d come. I wouldn’t leave you to rot in here. I just had some things I had to take care of first. Securing your release proved to be more challenging than expected.”
That was ominous. What was it Kylie had to do? “Did you find Lana?”
Kylie shook her head. “No.”
Nadine sighed. “Well, I’m sorry about that.” She approached Kylie with trepidation. Something was horribly off about her. She hoped it wasn’t lingering memories of Grayson. Hadn’t he done enough damage already?
Kylie rose, and Nadine stepped forward to embrace her, only to have Kylie move back. Nadine felt Kylie’s rejection like a sucker punch to the gut.
“What is it?” Nadine asked, her voice wavering.
“I saw the surveillance video,” Kylie said softly. “I saw everything that happened between you and Harken.”
Surveillance video? She had doctored that, it showed the scene as she had described it to the police. “Then you know what I said is true. Harken attacked me and—”
“I saw you.” Kylie stepped forward with anger in her eyes. “I watched you kill Harken in cold blood. You didn’t hesitate. You wielded that ice pick like a real pro, Nadine. In ways I know, I know, you couldn’t have. Yet you did. So maybe you’d better—”
“That’s not true!” Nadine’s eyes opened wide as she feigned her innocence. “Whoever showed you this ‘evidence’ is lying! It was doctored to make it appear I did murdered Harken, but you know me, Kylie. You know I can’t stomach that sort of thing.”
“I thought I did,” Kylie said softly.
“Who showed it to you?” Nadine paused to let Kylie answer, but she didn’t. Instead, Kylie only stared down at the table. Fear set in that Na
dine really was losing her—really losing her. “Kylie, I should know who has turned you against me, shouldn’t I? If I can’t know who is working against me, what hope do I have?”
“Maverick,” Kylie said softly and flipped her hair away from her face. “I know what you’re going to say—”
“Maverick?” Nadine laughed and forced out a stream of hot tears. “You believe his word over mine?”
“I believe the video he showed me. He didn’t want it to come to light any more than I did. He’s always had a soft spot for you—in a different way than he does for me. He thought of you as a princess. Something that needed protecting, just like we all do. That’s why he deleted it.”
Nadine blinked and desperately searched for something to say. Was it even possible to turn Kylie against Maverick? The bastard had used her any way he’d wanted for five years. He broke her, plain and simple, and now Kylie’s loyalty to him was almost impossible to crack.
“And what did you have to do in return? Don’t turn your head away from me, Kylie, just answer the question. There was a favor involved, I’m assuming?”
Kylie nodded. “I called for a vote of non-confidence against President Vaax.”
Nadine’s eyes widened. “You did what? You didn’t! You know what will happen to you if the vote is struck down? That’ll be treason against a sitting GFF president. Treason! Kylie, how could you?”
“To save you.” Kylie’s tone was biting and caustic. “To get you out of prison so you wouldn’t be executed for murder. You really have to ask me why?”
How dare Kylie throw this back on her? Nadine had killed Harken so the GFF wouldn’t be disrupted yet again, and Kylie had screwed it all up? “Do I really have to tell you that you can’t trust Maverick? You would put him above me?” Nadine shook her head. “I know things the last few days have been strained between us, but how could you think I would murder Harken?”
“Stop it, Nadine,” Kylie said softly. “Stop lying.”
“Lying!” Nadine’s eyes widened. “I don’t lie, and least of all to you. You saved me, Kylie. You told me I was your one true princess and I would never put that in jeopardy. Never!” She moved to kiss Kylie. Just for a moment…if she could hold Kylie’s face in her hands and remind her of their love…
