Page 65 of Enthraller

“I wasn’t in Defense during that time,” the administrator said slowly. “I only heard about the details through public comms, like everyone else.” She shook her head. “I must have missed this information in the notes I was handed when I took the job.” She waved a hand, suddenly impatient. “Never mind. How likely is it that this ship will return and make another attack?”

“It may try to return,” Captain Goa said. “But our systems did a scan of the signals just before they took their shot at the runner at the hover port, and we know what to listen for, now. They won’t find it so easy to drift past us and cause trouble again.”

“I hope you’re right, Captain.” The administrator rubbed at her temples. “Because with Velda Shanïha on her way back from Nanganya, I am tasked with informing the public about what happened.”

“What are you going to say?” General Baccal asked.

She leaned back in her chair. “I think the truth is all that will suffice right now.”

The general gave a nod, and after a moment, the administrator’s screen went blank.

Velda Shanïha was in Nanganya.

Wren wondered if she’d gone with Ethan Hyt, or had had to follow him for some reason. It explained the dark office, anyway.

Just as she thought that, a light flickered down the passage, coming from the direction of her office, and surprised, Wren headed there, wondering if Velda had already returned.

They had hoped to speak to her while they waited for Ethan to return from Nanganya, and give a debrief of what they had learned since they’d last seen each other.

Wren came to a stop, and she couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her. She didn’t think she was loud, but the noise brought Ed jogging over.

They both watched two figures moving through Velda’s office, using small lights to illuminate her desk and the stack of drawers to the side.

“When’s she due back?” one whispered to the other.

“I was told not for a while, if at all. She was returning from Nanganya with the captain of Demeter Special Forces, and our friends managed to cause some travel issues for them.”

“What are we looking for? Her files will be online and secure.”

“We’re looking for any notes she may have made the day she and Captain Hyt had a meeting with Wren Thorakis and Ed Zeneri. No one saw them come in, but one of our people saw them leave her office, and soon afterward, they were sent up to the observatory. Velda Shanïha would have had to approve that big of a disruption to shipping, but no one can find any files on her system about what led her to agree to it.”

The lights played over her desk, but after a few minutes, the two men seeded a few listening devices and then left empty-handed.

After the door closed, Wren waited for a moment, then turned. “The second, mysterious shot.That was them ‘causing travel issues’ for Velda and Ethan.”

“I’m afraid so.” He ran a hand along her arm, and his touch in the gloomy darkness was comforting.

“They may be dead.” She forced herself to say it.

His lips brushed her forehead. “Ethan Hyt is too stubborn to die. With luck they missed, or their runner is simply down. Thegeneral said the military is looking for them, so they’ll have help soon. But for now, it looks like we’re on our own.”

That was okay, she was used to being on her own, and now she had Ed at her back. “I’m a bit tired of having these people do whatever they like.” She examined the fury growing inside her, and found both she and her nanos approved.

“I’m with you there.” Ed stepped back, set the Guan scanner down on the floor for safekeeping and started walking to the exit. “Let’s go stop them.”

Sounded like a plan.

26

Ed and Wrenfollowed one of the men who’d broken into Velda’s office via the secret passage, only stepping out into the open when the passage ended, and they had to risk going into public to keep after him.

The other man had stepped into a large, open plan office and stayed there, but one seemed to be leaving, and Ed was very interested to see where he was going.

If they were going to stop their enemies, they had to find out who they were, first. And like Wren, Ed was tired of reacting and defending.

They had been proactive up at the obs station, scanning the freighters, but whoever they were up against proved yet again they were prepared to take insane risks and be extremely aggressive in order to advance their strategy.

Which made him think they were desperate. This whole thing smacked of a last chance scenario.

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