Page 24 of Enthraller

They made their way to Velda’s office without seeing anyone else, and Ed opened the door, held it for her.

As they stepped in, both Ethan and Velda stared at them in shock, with Ethan surging to his feet. Ed turned and activated the opaque function on the door as he closed it, making it impossible for anyone to see in. Unless they were in the secret passageway, of course.

“Wren and Ed,” Ethan said. He half-turned to Velda with a wave of his hand. “I’m assuming you know this is Velda Shanïha.”

“We do,” Ed said by way of greeting.

“How did you know about this meeting? How did you know where my office is?” Velda slowly rose to her feet as well.

“I have an inside source,” Wren said, catching Velda’s eye and giving a nod of greeting. “I made sure to do my homework before I transferred here, in case I was jumping from one problem straight into another.”

Velda watched her for a beat in silence. “Who?”

“I’m not going to answer that until I trust you a good deal more than I currently do.” Wren didn’t even know herself if she was lying. It was possible she would tell Velda about the passageway at some point.

Velda and Ethan exchanged a look, which Wren interpreted to mean they would work on finding out who might be passing her information by themselves.

It was an unfortunate waste of their time.

Ed made a sound of irritation, flicking a look at Ethan. “Worry about who told who what later. Wren has more information on what happened on Ytla than she told you last night.”

“More?” Ethan asked. He sat down again, sinking slowly into his seat and indicating she take the one beside it.

Wren didn’t want to sit, but she did it anyway, more to keep things cordial than any other reason. “There’s a wreck there. I saw it.”

“A wreck?” Velda frowned. “On Ytla?”

“I think it might be an ancestral ship.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Oh,” Ethan said. “This explains alot.”

9

Ed realizedEthan Hyt obviously knew more about ancestral ships than he did.

“What does it explain?” he asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms and his legs.

“Two men were found unconscious in the street last night. Facial scans showed they’re wanted by the VSC. They’re both accused of crimes on Lassa while they were working for a Core Company operating there.” Ethan leaned back in his seat and propped his right ankle on his left knee and wiggled his foot. “I’ve been trying to work out where they fit. This information slots in nicely.”

Ed fished in his pocket, tossed the crystal chip he’d taken out of one of the men’s pockets last night to Ethan. “Found this on them before we left them.”

“They attacked you?” Ethan asked, catching it deftly and studying it on his palm.

Ed nodded. “They were hunting us. I think they were working with Mornes and Jenik. They couldn’t have known we were together and near your apartment any other way.”

“Mornes and Jenik are the two Nanganya special forces transfers?” Velda asked.

Ethan nodded. “I’ve got them in holding. I thought I’d discuss how to deal with them with you before I contact Ferris Harden, the Nanganya SF teams captain. Wren here thinks he’s complicit.”

“Is that so?” Velda asked her.

Wren hesitated, glanced over at Ed, and then nodded. “I think he lied to me a few times, and he definitely tried to stall my transfer to Demeter.”

“He’d have been the one to sign off on the supply drop, too,” Velda said. “No one lower on the chain could have done that.”

Ed should have thought of that. It made things very simple, suddenly. There was no question Ferris Harden was involved.

---