Hatred lodged deep in my throat with a chemical sharpness. He murdered his wife and thought he’d murdered his child. There were no words for that level of wrongness.
“People buy into it. He can be convincing,” I said. Among other things, the Overseer was more of a liar than I’d ever suspected. Maybe he was even lying to himself.
“Believe me, there isn’t a nanosecond that goes by when that man isn’t acting out of pure self-interest. He pretends well, but he can’t see a thing outside of himself.”
In that case, it was even more terrifying to think what he might do next “for the good of the galaxy.” It seemed impossible to me now that most people across the eighteen Sectors were just going about their daily lives, keeping their heads down, and not worrying about it. Successfully ignoring all the fearful moments, accusations, and announcements that didn’t sit right. That had been me, too—before Tess.
Tess glanced at her watch. “Shade, it’s time.”
“I know, baby, but I want you to listen to me first. I don’t give a damn if you’ve got a computer in your hand. Or for a hand. It doesn’t matter to me at all.”
“Okay.” She nodded like she wasn’t convinced. “I can try not to touch you with it—if you want.”
How could she possibly think I’d reject any part of her? “You unlocked me.” I picked up her left hand and placed it flat over my heart. “Just like you open doors, you opened a new life for me. I’d imprisoned myself in a situation I hated more and more every day, but I didn’t see any way out of it. You broke me out. You freed me, just like you free books, and food, and cure-alls for people who need them and are denied that precious resource.”
Tess’s fingers pressed against my chest. “You freed yourself, Shade. You chose.”
“But you gave me the reason and the strength. Because you’re the strongest, bravest, most resourceful person I know.”
Her gaze dropped to her hand over my heart and then rose again. “I’m pretty sure you’re stronger.” Her half-hearted joke redirected my words on purpose. She wasn’t getting away with that.
“I’m not talking about muscle, Tess. I’m talking about the ability to make difficult decisions and carry through with them. That AI. The Black Widow. Leaving me on the Squirrel Tree when I deserved it. And I’m especially talking about the incredible inner strength it takes to forgive.”
She drew in a sharp breath.
“If we didn’t have to go, I’d show you exactly where I want your hands on me. Both of them. And I’d fucking lick starshine onto your skin.”
Her eyes flared with interest. “No time. Frank is probably having kittens right now—no offense to Bonk.”
I bent my head. I wasn’t leaving without a kiss. The moment our lips touched, Tess wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back, pressing her body into mine. The contact was fast, but fierce and true, and that was all I needed right now. We were still on the same page of the story I wanted to write together. Tess was mine, I was hers, and now I was ready for my first heist.
Chapter 15
TESS
Another hundred meters and we’d be in. A multilevel plasma-shielded entrance loomed before us, several large platforms beyond the invisible barrier teeming with activity. Vessels, people, crates, and cargo. Personal belongings. We were just another ship in the crowd as the seventy-eight-story station housing about ten thousand soldiers switched crews. Family leave or a different assignment for those headed out. A new post for the ones arriving. Us—breaking and entering.
Unless we bungled the security check.
Shade eased the Queen Bee closer, maintaining his spot in line. Two ships to go, and then it was our turn. It was hard not to stare out the clear panel at the massive guns pointed in our direction. Firepower like that could cut this little cruiser in half. Decimate it in just the second it took for one of those high-powered energy beams to hit.
Frank’s intel gave us the access code belonging to a maintenance crew arriving sometime today from a Dark Watch ground facility on Ewelock. That code was the reason we needed to maintain a tight schedule, get here sooner rather than later, and do our work quickly. If that new crew had already checked in, we were screwed. We’d have to run with our tails between our legs and hope a phaser beam didn’t blast us into oblivion. If they tried to check in while we were still inside…
Yeah. That would be a problem, too.
The plan was good but not foolproof. As far as heists went, this one balanced out at about medium-high risk, with a few too many variables orbiting the core of the operation for any of us to go into it entirely confident of our success. The payoff for the DT Mooncamps would be huge if we pulled it off. But there were no guarantees in this business, and suddenly, I wondered if I’d made a bad choice when Shiori needed me most.
We moved up one more spot in line, and Frank started rattling off our jobs again. Going over the plan at least eight times before we actually got started was as much a part of Frank as his cheeky smile.
I looked over my shoulder into the back section of the cruiser as he started his final rundown, pointing at Caeryssa first.
“You’ve got the first unit. As soon as Tess detaches the food hold, use its thrusters to move away from the spacedock. You’ll have a monitor showing you nearby objects and distances, but it’s not like flying a ship. It’s a glorified hover crate, bigger and pressurized. Just avoid whatever’s out there and get enough free space around you for the Unholy Stench to pick you up.”
Caeryssa nodded, just as she had the first several times. Her tightly pulled-back hair and angular features made her look austere and humorless, especially in that Dark Watch uniform. She smiled, ruining the dour vibe. “I got it, Frank. Relax.”
Frank didn’t relax. If he’d had the room, he would have paced. “Asher?”
“Here, Boss.” Asher’s voice came to us over the coms. “Like we agreed, I’m staying back until the time’s right. Don’t want to make anyone suspicious.”
“Same.” Merrick spoke for the first time since our initial device check. We’d arrived outside of Ewelock together, he’d grunted, and that was that. “I’ve got the Stench on our starboard side. We should still be off the station’s close-range monitors.”
There was way too much traffic around a big rock like Ewelock for the Dark Watch to worry about ships farther out, especially on a station turnover day with tons of activity. No one would give a second thought to a couple of cargo cruisers hovering in high orbit, probably just recharging.
“Good. Good.” I hoped Frank looking like a bobblehead meant he was satisfied, because we were next in line once the ship ahead of us cleared out.