Page 80 of Enthraller

“We had two informers in Planetary Defense. They had access to that information, although I’m assuming either one or both of them are blown, given that the warehouse was discovered.”

“You’re sure that supply freight navigator didn’t tell someone anyway, and they’re just watching us now, to see what we do? Itseems incredible they didn’t notice us.” Fenton was less willing to believe they’d gotten away with it, although, sadly, Wren thought they had.

Linao was just that good.

“They didn’t notice us. I went to a great deal of trouble to make sure they didn’t.” Linao leaned forward in her chair, watching the panel in front of her. “My instructions are to land about an hour’s walk from Har Met Vent headquarters. They’ll meet us halfway, which is apparently where they think the wreck is located.”

“Crazy bastards. I wish we could do this without them.” Navar sounded aggrieved.

Suddenly a light went on in Wren’s head. Navar had been part of the team that was busy kitting up at the SF camp on Ytla to rescue her, when she had stumbled in on her own.

That’s why he was familiar.

“You do know that they aren’t really crazy?” Linao looked over at him, her contempt clear this time. “They’re just pretending, so the VSC leaves them alone.”

“Some of them might be pretending, but they’ve attracted some interesting followers for real, as well.” Navar shook his head. “I’ve had to deal with them, so believe me, I know.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Wren didn’t like thinking about her time in the Har Met Vent camp, but there were definitely people there who had bought into the tenets of the cult.

She didn’t know what most of those tenets were—no one not in the cult did—but some of it had to do with rites they believed had been carried out on Ytla a hundred years before, by a small group of settlers from Aponi whose outpost had been wiped out by disease before anyone knew they were even sick.

“Should these two still be so out of it?” Fenton suddenly asked, and Wren had to force herself not to tense up.

She’d been watching things through half-closed eyes, and, worried Fenton was focused on her, she let her whole body go limp as Linao piloted the freighter into a sudden right bank.

She closed her eyes as she fetched up against a wall.

Ed’s body bumped up against her, so she lay caught between him and the wall.

She let her forehead rest on his back, soothed by the heat from his body.

“Check their breathing,” Linao suggested.

With a huff of annoyance, Navar left the bridge, then returned to crouch beside them. She heard something make an electronic ping and with a grunt, he rose to his feet. “They’re fine. But I’m not carrying Zeneri if he’s still unconscious when we land.”

“We have a hover stretcher, I think,” Linao said. “We can put them on that.”

That suited Wren. She’d rather save her energy.

We can dissipate when we land, her nanos said.

Not without Ed, she told them.

She felt their hesitation, and then the sudden agreement.Not without Ed.

Wren knewthe moment Ed came to.

They were lying together on the hover stretcher, backs to each other, but his fingers twitched against hers and she curled her little finger around his for a moment before releasing it.

Their little group had been walking for slightly more than the half hour Linao had estimated, and Wren guessed they must be close to the meeting place with whoever was coming from the Har Met Vent.

The two SF soldiers were taking up the front and rear of their group, with Linao walking beside the hover in the middle.

Something up front caused them to slow down, which had happened a few times before as they negotiated around an obstacle, but this time, Linao’s body language told her it was more than just a large fallen tree or a rocky outcrop.

“Renard,” she called, voice cool.

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