Page 40 of Enthraller

“Don’t turn your back on any of those freighter captains, if you happen to bump into one,” Trish said. “The chatter I’m picking up is vicious.” There was an element of glee to her voice, and Wren had to wonder about what was driving it.

“You sound almost pleased about it,” Cora said, her surprise obvious.

Wren tilted her head. “Yes, you do. I wonder why that is?”

Trish turned away without answering, as if she realized she’d shown too much, and with a friendly nod of goodbye to Cora, Wren left the canteen, her nanos on alert.

She’ll attack, they told her.If she gets a chance, she’ll attack. From behind.

That sounded right. Although Wren was still unsure of the reason for it.

“Wren, you’re needed.” Hatch’s voice came through her comm. “Ed found something suspicious.”

“Yay.” She meant it. She was looking forward to something to do.

She made it to the control room in minutes, and as she stepped in, there was another beep and the smell of burning, and then a crunch underfoot as she stepped on something metallic. Her device had zapped another creeper.

She flicked it away with the toe of her boot.

“Must have been waiting outside the door,” she said.

“Or it followed you from the canteen.” Hatch picked it up and tossed it on the table next to the other one.

Her nanos would have picked that up, but she gave a nod of agreement. “Could be.”

There was a hollow thunk, and then the air lock opened and Ed and Bailey stepped in, already lifting their helmets off their head.

“Bailey, you stay in the control room and rest up. Ed, Wren and I will take the runner out to the ship.” Hatch took Bailey’s helmet from her.

Bailey nodded, her gaze catching on the second creeper on the table. She lifted her brows. “I figured that would be the best way to play it.” She started stripping out of the suit.

Ed already had his off, and he accepted the slim package Hatch handed him. He opened it and took out the warm, damp cloth from inside, rubbed his face and neck with a sigh of enjoyment.

“Sweaty work?” Wren asked.

He nodded. “I’m beginning to remember why I stayed away so long.”

He left to change quickly and they were in the runner, heading for the freighter, in under ten minutes. Wren studied it with interest as they approached.

“It looks like a VSC ship.”

“It is. From Raxia.” Ed tapped the screen he was holding, showed her the schematics. “I think there’s something off in here.” He showed her a narrow chamber that looked like it ran along the length of the bathrooms in the crew quarters.

They reached the freighter in minutes, and landed inside the hold, nestling between large storage units and two small runners similar to their own.

A very irritated man met them as they disembarked and introduced himself as the purser.

“This is an imposition.”

“Then let us check what we need to check and we’ll be on our way.” Ed sounded calm and practiced. It may have been a while since he’d done this, but he clearly still knew how to play the game.

They followed the purser down passageways, getting curious and sometimes hostile looks from the crew, and eventually Ed pulled up short.

“Here.” He had set up the scanner while they were traveling across to the freighter, and all he had to do was attach the clear screen in front of his eyes. He pointed. “There’s a door.”

Hatch went over, running his hands over the wall.

“There is no door there,” the purser said, “I have the ship’s schematics. There is nothing?—”

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