Page 38 of Phoenix's Last Heist
“I may be a Xylothian, but I’m still a dealer,” I insist. “I came here in good faith to see what you would offer me for the idol. My people are dying and I’ll be damned if I let anyone else make a buck off of my ancestors’ heritage before I do. Sixty million credits and the idol is yours.”
The words are bitter on my tongue, and I know Fobos won’t believe them. The timbre of my bluster wanes in the face of that steady hand on his plasma pistol, aiming straight for my head.
“I have a better idea,” Fobos sneers. “Leave the idol and get the fuck out of my casino, and I’ll decide if I’m going to blast your ship to pieces from here. You’ve got a fifty-fifty shot of making it out of the atmosphere. How’s that for knowing the odds?”
“Let’s just take it easy,” I say, stepping back from Fobos. “I only came here to see what you might offer for the idol. But maybe you’re right—a trade would be fine.”
“That offer expired with my patience,” Fobos growls. “I’m being generous and offering you the chance to leave with your life. I could simply shoot you and take the idol now, but I don’t feel like cleaning your blood off my boots.”
“Please,” I say, trying to keep the panic from my voice. I don’t want to die here, but leaving the idol behind will be a fate worse than death for me—for my people. Even for Lyra. “I think we can be reasonable here. There’s much about the idol you don’t know. The gems, too.”
He rolls his eyes. “Fascinating as your legends are, I doubt there’s much you could say that would interest me.”
I hear a shout and a deep grunt over the earpiece—Lyra is fighting with someone. The scuffle grows louder, the sounds of flesh and bone colliding making it difficult to focus on what I planned to say. Tamping down the fear I feel for Lyra’s safety, I force myself to nod.
“It’s true,” I say. “In fact, I can tell you who one of the other interested buyers is.”
Fobos raises his brows and waves the plasma pistol impatiently.
“Very well. I know many seek this particular prize, but I’m curious who might come knocking on my door trying to find it,” he grumbles. He raises the pistol again—his finger curled around the trigger.
“Brill!” I practically shout. “Brill of Ooneryx.”
“Son of a bi—” Lyra’s curse abruptly cuts off with a hiss of static.
If I’d thought Fobos was angry at my incompetent negotiating, it’s nothing compared to his expression of unadulterated rage hearing Brill’s name.
The commotion over my earpiece escalates, reaching a climax with a sheer, ear-piercing scream followed by several seconds of deafening silence. My heart stops, ice flooding my veins.
Lyra!
“Brill of Ooneryx,” Fobos spits, his golden skin turning a rusty orange color. “He doesn’t have fifty million credits to spend. And if he sends that filthy, wretched harlot back out here…”
Suddenly, the door to the vault opens on a hiss of pressurized air, and Lyra stands in the threshold, holding the bloody, severed hand of the enforcer, who lies in a crumpled heap behind her. Her hair is a tangle, and her skin is coated with sweat and blood I can only hope isn’t hers. The grin of triumph lights up her eyes in a way that makes that worrying tingle at the base of my spine ratchet up again. Relief at seeing her safe almost makes my knees buckle.
“‘Filthy, wretched harlot’? Aw, you wouldn’t be talking about little ol’ me now, would you, Fobos, baby? That’s certainly not what you saidlasttime I was here,” Lyra says with a saucy wink.She tosses the hand back to the enforcer on the ground and closes the door behind her.
Fobos gapes, his eyes going wide and his orange-hued anger deepening to bright scarlet.
“You!” he bellows.
Irritation bordering on anger explodes in my brain.
“Oh, for the love of—you slept withhim, too?” I snap, jealously igniting my temper.
“Yet another regrettable chore,” she replies, her lip curling in distaste. “And rather underwhelming.”
Fobos swears. A beat too late he realizes he’s still aiming the plasma pistol at me, and he swings to fire at Lyra. She ducks behind a bookshelf, muttering over comms the whole time.
“I can’tbelieveyou told him about Brill! You could have given him any name in the stars-damned galaxy, but no, you had to actually give him the real one! You are theworstcriminal I’ve ever had to work with,” she grumbles. “You could help me out here, Ranger!”
Shots sear through stacks of books and shatter the crystalline cases, leaving jagged shards littering the floor. With Fobos distracted, now’s my chance.
Shaking myself out of my shocked state, I turn to Fobos and surge forward, reaching for his pistol and knocking him off-balance. Before he can recover, I drive my fist into his jaw.
“I can’t believe you slept with this creep,” I growl back at her as Fobos stumbles backward. “Do you just fly around the galaxy seducing unworthy men?”
She laughs at that. “Show me a worthy one and maybe I’ll stop flying around the galaxy looking for ‘em.”
