Page 38 of Her Alien Mercenaries
“Highlights only. Jenna collapsed. She’s only alive because we gave her our nanotech, and it was a near thing.” He handed her the comm. “She was holding this when we found her. We think she sent her resignation shortly before whatever happened.”
He had to watch his words to avoid giving away information to anyone who might be listening, and it was frustrating the hell out of him.
Skye’s lips thinned and her eyes went cold as steel. “They couldn’t have responded that fast.”
“Not unless they have someone local.”
“Fraxx. That’s not good.”
“It’s not. You may want to ask yourmahoyenabout locking down all departures until we get some answers.”
That got her attention. “Who is we? Because the last time I checked, you weren’t a member of the palace guard, cyber security, or the rangers. You need to leave it to us.”
Zanyr raised his brow. “They tried to kill our mate. If the prince himself told me to stand down, I wouldn’t do it.”
“Fine. But when this is over, you can bet I’m going to use this as a hammer to knock some sense into the rest of the council. It’s more than time we had some proper law enforcement in Haven.”
“You’ll have my backing.”
“Great. Glad to hear it. Go find your answers and try to keep the damage to a minimum.” She frowned. “Do you need weapons? I can authorize access to the main armory.”
He grinned. “Not needed. We brought our own.”
“You’re not supposed to have your own weapons. Colony rules! Remember?”
He walked away and called back over his shoulder. “Too bad we don’t have anyone to enforce those rules yet.”
He tracked down Torren, and the two of them jogged to a relatively empty area not far from thegharshtupens. The noise and stench from the herds of scaly, foul tempered creatures deterred most visitors, which made it perfect for their needs.
The drone had a fully programmed autopilot and enough power to make the trip from the woods where they’d stashed their weapons cache in a matter of minutes.
Torren was against the idea, but Zanyr had convinced him it was better to be prepared. It turned out that smuggling weapons onto the planet was easy. Weapons acquisition was one of the many services Hezza B. was happy to provide once they convinced her it was for the protection of the colony.
Donning the armor and arming up brought back memories Zanyr didn’t want to dwell on. This was different. This wasn’t about money. They were protecting their family and their home.
“I don’t want to get used to this,” Torren said. “But I’ll admit I missed the armor. Do you think I could talk Director Firt into letting me wear it in class?”
“I doubt it. But if you’re scared of a bunch of wet-behind-the-wings students…”
“Yeah. Yeah. No armor in the classroom.” Torren slapped a gauntleted hand to his armored chest. “Now, where do we want to start?”
“With Jenna’s judgmental neighbor. The female.”
“Jenna said her name is Tani.”
“Noted.” Zanyr slid a second blaster into a holster near his ankle. “Let’s pay Tani a visit.”
With the street outside Jenna’s house still full of curious onlookers and guards, they opted to fly low and take a different approach to Tani’s place. They landed in her back yard, out of sight of the street, and made their way to the back door.
A sharp knock on the door brought their first target bustling over. “Whoever you are, you get out of my—” She stopped to gape. “What do you want! Are you robbing me? Fine. Take anything you want. Take it all.” She backed away from the door, her hands raised and wings outstretched in panic.
“We’re not robbing you. We just wanted to talk to you about Jenna. Your neighbor.”
The female’s voice was little more than a squeak. “Is she okay? What happened? I saw healers going inside.”
Zanyr cleared his throat in surprise. Tani seemed legitimately concerned, which was unexpected. “She will be. Uh, thanks for asking. I’m curious why you’re worried, though. I saw the way you looked at her yesterday. You don’t like her much.”
“Oh, that.” The female looked down at her feet. “I probably owe her an apology. She’s so… so… popular! Since she’s moved in, no one gives me the time of day anymore. It’s all Jenna this and Jenna that. She’s got Sanjin’s interest. That’s for sure. He and I haven’t been anything for a while now, but then she moves in, and he’s all sorts of interested. Yesterday you two arrive with her, and, well.” She huffed. “I was envious. Which is pathetic, I know. I mean, she doesn’t even have wings! What do I have to be jealous of?”
