“Is that an order?” He knew he was being an asshole, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself lately. It was probably a good thing he hadn’t seen Nyx in person—it had saved him from adding her to the list of people he’d snarled at since they’d gotten back. Of course, he hadn’t exactly been out of contact, either. But talking to her on the sly wasn’t the same as being face to face.
“Of course it’s not an order—you outrank me. You done being an ass, now?”
Eric raised his hands and stepped off the machine. “Yeah. Sorry.”
Dante tossed him the towel. “I get it. They’re not treating her right, and they’re acting like your judgment can’t be trusted for shit. If it were me, I’d be pissed, too.”
“I thought I’d proven myself, shown I was loyal, that I could keep on the right side of the law. Turns out, none of that matters.” He looked up at Dante. “I’m beyond pissed right now, but that’s no excuse for taking it out on you or the rest of the team. I know you all still trust me. So, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” He scrubbed the towel over his face, head, and neck, and tossed it into an open laundry chute. “Now, if you’re not here to remind me to keep my nose clean and stay away from Nyx, what are you here to talk about?”
“You. You’re pushing yourself too hard. You’re not going to be any good to anyone the rate you’re going.” Dante looked at the treadmill pointedly. “These things take time. We’ll find these bastards.”
“And when we do, do you think they’ll trust Nyx enough to let her come with us? They won’t even let her move around the fraxxing station right now. We didn’t free her, we just upgraded her to a nicer prison.” And that was what was really bothering him. The investigation was grinding along slowly, but he was used to that. The way they were treating Nyx, though? It wasn’t right. An IAF battle cruiser had met them on the way back to the Drift, and they’d had orders to transfer her to the larger ship for the duration of the trip home. None of them liked it, but orders were orders.
He’d only been able to stay in contact with her because he’d taken steps.
She was being interrogated and examined almost daily, her activities restricted to the point she couldn’t leave her quarters inside Nova Force HQ. Scientists and medical experts came and went, and no one would let him so much as talk to her. If he hadn’t found a way around the restrictions, she’d probably hate him by now.
Dante grunted. “No argument there. Come on, you still need to work out some of that anger you’re carrying. I’ll grab the pads and meet you on the mats.”
“I should really get back to work.” He had been systematically parsing through every bit of code he’d recovered from the station they’d raided. It was tedious work, but he’d uncovered a few key bits of data that fit nicely into the framework Nyx’s information had created.
“We’re not done talking yet. Get your ass to the mat. I haven’t seen you practice your hand-to-hand for weeks.”
“Been busy kicking digital ass.” He toed off his shoes and socks and crossed over to the sparring area. He grabbed a pair of smart-fit gloves and held them to his hands, keeping them still until the fabric had wrapped itself around his fingers in a snug, supportive fit. He flexed his hands a few times and the nanite-enhanced material made a few minor adjustments. By the time Dante strolled over to join him, he was ready to go.
“You need to keep up your combat skills.” Dante looked serious for a moment. “Don’t give them any reasons to question your place on this team.”
He threw a few light punches at Dante’s raised hands before answering. “You think it’s like that?”
“I think we’d be stupid to assume it wasn’t. Trust is in short supply right now. They wanted a win, and we gave ‘em one, but it came with more questions than answers. Fido’s grumpy from all the meetings he’s been dragged into, and Sabre’s not much better. On top of all the politics and paranoia, someone leaked the details of our mission to the enemy. The commander says they’re going through everyone’s records with a fraxxing microscope.”
Eric threw another fast flurry of punches, then stepped back. “Including us? We’re the ones whose mission was compromised. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Dante snorted. “Common sense is not a requirement to get promoted to command. In fact, I’m pretty sure they consider it a detriment.”
He grinned. “That would explain a lot.”
They fell into a familiar rhythm, Eric throwing combinations of punches and kicks, his speed increasing along with the force of his blows as they talked. Dante was right, he needed this—both the exercise, and the chance to talk.
“How’s it coming? The stuff you’re working on?”
“Slow. I found a few more pieces today. They’ll be part of our next briefing. Nothing planet-shattering, but it verifies some of what Nyx told us. I recovered part of a duty roster, shift rotations, work assignments, that kind of thing. All the names match up. I’m running a check of all databases we have access to, trying to find more about these people, but so far it’s a big blank.”
“Like Everest?” Dante referred to one of the Gray’s lackeys, now deceased thanks to an explosive chip in his neck. He’d been in their custody when he died, and all they’d learned about him was that he was a clone, and a ghost whose entire life was a work of elaborate fiction.
“I think so, yeah. So, either the Gray Men are creating an entire workforce of clones, or they’ve managed to delete all those people’s entire records from existence. I’m not sure which of those things worries me more.”
“Everything about that bunch worries me. They’ve got enough power and influence to do anything they want, and we still don’t know what their endgame is. Rossi is right. We’re playing catch up, and I think we’re running out of time to figure it out.”
“Nyx is helping with that. Or she was. If I were her, I’d be seriously reconsidering how much help I’d give the people who promised her freedom and then treated her like a prisoner.” He slammed the pads with a powerful kick. “It’s not right.”
“You like her, don’t you?” Dante’s question threw him off his stride and he almost missed landing his next punch.
“What? No. I mean yeah, she seems nice enough.” He struggled to recover from both the physical and verbal flailing he had going on.
Dante, the smug bastard, laughed at him. “That’s what I thought.”
His next set of blows landed with the full force of his frustration behind them, and Dante had to take a step back to compensate. “Like it matters either way. If the brass has it their way, I’m never going to see her again.”
“Oh, ye of little faith. Sometimes things work out, you know.”
He threw another punch. “Not in my experience.”
“I know. But you’re forgetting something.”
“What’s that?” He ripped through another flurry of blows and finished with a high kick that made a satisfying smack when it landed.
“You’ve got friends.” Dante raised one of the pads in a wave of greeting. “Nice to see you again, Nyx.”