Page 26 of Zayrik

Flutz.

My jaw didn’t move. But my pulse did.

“Running?” I managed, tone light. “Thought I was just taking a walk.”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Is it Vask?”

Hearing the name out loud made my stomach drop, but I held firm. “Who?”

“The Zorani crime lord who’s got half the sector in his pocket,” Zayrik said, pushing off the wall. “The one whose men were hunting you on Katar Station.”

Suddenly, the corridor felt confining and cramped. Zep landed on my shoulder, his claws digging in, and trilled once more.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, but the lie sounded weak even to my ears.

Zayrik moved closer, his tall frame blocking the corridor. Not threatening, but not letting me escape either.

“You know,” he said quietly, “there are two types of people in this galaxy who lie that well. Professionals—” his eyes narrowed “—and survivors.”

Something in his tone made me look up, really look at him. There was knowledge in his eyes, yes.

And something else too. Something resembling understanding, almost.

“Which one are you?” he asked.

For a heartbeat, I considered telling him the truth. All of it.

The data crystal.

Vask.

How I’d gotten in too deep, seen too much. How I was trying to do the right thing for once in my life.

But trusting him meant risking everything.

“I’m just trying to stay alive,” I said. Quiet. Honest. Close enough to the truth that it felt like one.

Something flickered in his eyes. Then he reached out slowly, and touched my arm.

The contact sent a jolt through me. Not unpleasant, but startling. I didn’t pull away.

“Whatever you’re running from,” he said, his voice dropping lower, “whatever you’ve got hidden in that jacket that’s worth killing for, it’s bigger than you think it is.”

My breath caught. He knew about the crystal. Or at least suspected.

“And how would you know that?” I managed to ask.

His gaze was steady, unflinching. “Because if it has anything to do with Vask, I was sent to find it.”

“Well. That complicates things.” Nav’s voice hummed from my wrist—uninvited, of course.

I resisted the urge to slap the comm. “Nav, not now.”

“Oh, I agree. Terrible timing. Just thought you should know: your heart rate is alarming.”

9

Zayrik

---