Page 30 of Survivor
“We need to keep Rogue out of this,” Vex says. “If shit goes wrong, she needs to have her head in the game. To survive it.”
“But it won’t go wrong,” Xavier says. “I’ll make sure of it.”
15
Marick
The smell of smoke still lingers in my nostrils. Someone is after them, someone that isn’t me and isn’t an enforcer. Do they have her? I refuse to believe the bitch is dead. She’s too stubborn for that. There are no bodies on the ship, or so the enforcers say.
They’re on the hunt too.
I have to beat them to it.
The hub is crawling with business, but this is where she would have come. To blend and hide. But where would she go from here?
A shadow sweeps across the periphery of my vision. I spin in time to avoid being knocked over by a figure on a hoverboard. Anger races through my veins, and I leap forward and snag the back of the creature’s coat, pulling him off his ride.
He hits the ground, stunned, staring up at me with flat, ugly features that make me want to vomit on his face.
“Watch where the fuck you’re going.” I bite out the words.
He holds up his hands. “Sorry.”
I step back as he scrambles to his feet and reaches for the bag he’s dropped. Papers spill out. Posters with neat black ink.
50,000 credits and a ship.
“Wait.” I grab his shoulder. “Where is this?”
He squints up at me and then down at my shirt, at the emblem that makes me look like an official of the Trad military.
“Not for you.” He backs up. “Sorry.”
Like hell. I move fast and block his path. “Where?”
There is a flash of fear in his eyes, but then he stands tall. “Not for you. No officials. You won’t get in.”
I smile down at him. “You can get me in.”
“No.”
“How much?”
“What?”
“You can’t be doing this job for fun? Hovering about and handing out posters. No one is stuck here for fun, so tell me, how much to make your life better?”
His chest is rising and falling fast. “You pay me?”
I nod slowly. “Ten thousand credits.”
His eyes go round.
I pull my holotab from my pocket. Rogue’s face glares back at me defiantly. The only picture we have of her, taken the day before I fucked her. The memory sends shivers of want over my skin.
I lick my lips. “And if you help me find her, I’ll double the amount.”
His eyes slip to the picture and widen a fraction. I know that look.
