Three more goons entered with a woman who must be Reena Ahern. I’d been expecting an older, graying female of Caucasian origin, like her husband. The woman shoved in front of me was the total opposite. Not a day over fifty, compact and hard, with near-black hair, light-brown skin, and dark eyes that incinerated. She turned a scathing look on me and her upper lip curled. “You.”
My back stiffened. This was starting off well.
The soldiers pushed her inside the interrogation room but didn’t lay a finger on her. It appeared they learned from each other. Mistakes. Corrected behavior. Survival of the fittest was still at work everywhere, especially inside the Dark Watch.
“Leave us,” I ordered.
They got the hell out. I closed the door and bolted it. As I turned back around, Reena Ahern kicked me in the face.
Pain rang in my head. I reeled back a step. Mwende grabbed her and pulled her away from me as I hissed in a breath and gingerly touched my nose. Bleeding. A quick check assured me that the mask was still in place. The throbbing intensified.
I glared at Ahern. Even with her hands bound, she’d blindsided me and managed one hell of a kick.
“Keeping in fighting shape inside your cell, I see.” I dabbed my nose with my sleeve. Crimson on crimson. It wouldn’t stain. The Dark Watch wore black, but the Overseer’s generals wore the blood of the galaxy.
Hatred burned from her like radiation from a star. “You evil bastard. I’ll never give you what you need.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
She snort-huffed like we’d already had this conversation a thousand times. “I’d rather let my beautiful planet stay a poisoned jewel in the heavens than turn her over to the Overseer. The bounty of Demeter Terre will never be yours.” She struggled forward, trying to lunge at me.
Mwende jerked her back again. Ahern flung herself from side to side but couldn’t break the lieutenant’s iron hold. With a bellow, she stopped struggling and looked around, her chest heaving. She swept a fearsome gaze over the prisoners but didn’t stop, no recognition flickering in her eyes as she turned back to me.
“Why am I here?” She glared. “You know I won’t talk.”
I wiped my nose again with Bridgebane’s jacket. He probably didn’t want it back anyway.
At least we knew Ahern hadn’t turned over her formula for cleaning up the DT atmosphere—if she’d even figured it out. As far as we knew, the neutralizing method was still a theory.
“We’re here to rescue you.” I checked to make sure my nose wasn’t broken. The throbbing was settling down—just like Ahern now.
She looked at me and started laughing.
I wasn’t in a laughing mood for several reasons. Tess in chains. The Overseer somewhere on this starbase. Us still in the interrogation room instead of leaving. I’d laugh when we were safe, but until then, nothing was funny.
“You’re always trying different things. You should know by now that I. Won’t. Crack.” Ahern’s dark eyes narrowed in promise.
I lowered my chin in acknowledgment. “You and Fiona are gonna get along great.” I turned to Mwende. “You have the key to those cuffs?”
The lieutenant took a master key from the shelf and liberated Ahern first.
“What’s going on?” Warily, she rubbed her wrists.
“We’re freeing you.” I reached for Shiori, who wasn’t bound, and guided her against my side. The frailty of her body didn’t fool me anymore. Her backbone was made of heroic stuff. “Get on board with it,” I said to Ahern, “and only kick the bad guys in the face.”
The rebel scientist snapped her mouth shut, but suspicion stayed plastered across her face like this damn mask across mine. I already hated looking like Bridgebane, but I suddenly wanted to rip his likeness away and howl my own name for once. For the first time in a decade, I wanted to claim myself.
Shiori leaned against me, light and cool, a ghostly weight. Her trust humbled me, and I wrapped an arm around her, wanting to steady her and warm her up. She trembled. I didn’t think it was fear. More like adrenaline and age. As Mwende freed the prisoners from the rings on the table, Shiori lifted her fingers to touch my face.
Gently, I took hold of her hand and lowered it. “That’s not my face. I’d rather you touched the real one.” She’d never learned my features. She’d obviously learned my voice.
Her smile was so soft I might’ve imagined it. “Tess forgave you then?”
I nodded, then remembered she couldn’t see and scraped a sound of confirmation from my thickening throat.
“I knew your heart before you did.” Her gentle murmur went straight to the organ she was talking about and squeezed out a painful beat.
“Did you?” I asked, my voice rough.
She nodded. “It whispered to me of your choice.”
Before I could answer, or even try to understand, Tess spun Shiori from my arms and folded her into a tight hug. Jax joined them, his arms around them both.
“Merrick’s here, too.” Tess pulled back. She sniffled once. “Big Guy, I mean.”
Shiori nodded. To my surprise, she reached for me again. “Is your plan to walk right out?”
“Will she let us?” Ahern tilted her head toward Mwende, her hellion hackles going back up. “And what about you?” Swung back on me, her poison-dart eyes were something else. “Is the Dark Watch turning on itself? Finally melting down into a pile of galactic waste?”
“She just let you out of your cuffs,” Mwende muttered.
“And I may look like him, but I’m not.” I handed Ahern a pair of dummy cuffs from deep inside my jacket pocket. The lieutenant stashed the real restraints under the torture cabinet, pushing them out of sight.
“Put those on,” I instructed. “They latch, but don’t lock. One hard pull, and they’ll come apart.”
Ahern’s nostrils flared once. Slowly, her mouth pinching, she put her hands behind her back and let Mwende cuff her again. She immediately yanked the cuffs open, looking shocked when they gave way. “Just checking,” she said stiffly.
Grumbling in her native language, Mwende cuffed her again—not gently. When Jax, Merrick, and Tess also wore the fake restraints again, the lieutenant and I drew our guns. It was time to move some prisoners.
I held Shiori’s arm to guide her. “Here’s the plan to get us out of here. We’re transferring you because we suddenly have reason to believe that rebel spies might’ve infiltrated Starbase 12. We’re not telling anyone that unless they ask. No need to cause a ruckus unless we have to. We’re banking on Bridgebane not explaining himself to anyone. If someone wants a reason for the transfer, we’re moving you to a secure location for further questioning. That’s it. Unfortunately for them, the Dark Watch is going to lose you along the way.”