Page 30 of Hunted By the Wraiths
I finally pulled away. Climbed off him carefully. Found my pants. Started dressing.
He watched me. “What are you thinking?”
“That we need to move.”
“Mm.”
The part of my brain that ran logistics was already making lists. Cataloging problems. Running numbers.
Problem one: We were still trapped on The Quarry. Vashil still wanted us dead. The Consortium still wanted us captured.
Problem two: We only had two of the three data caches. Cache three was in The Fortress. The most secure location I’d ever built. Which was now the most dangerous place on this station.
Problem three: Thoryn was still bleeding. Still infected. Still on a clock. The bond healing had bought us time, but it hadn’t fixed the physical damage.
I pulled out my datapad. Called up the schematics. The Fortress was twelve levels up. Three checkpoints between here and there. Vashil would have it locked down tight.
But I knew this station. Every tunnel. Every vent. Every forgotten maintenance shaft.
And now I had something Vashil didn’t expect.
A fully bonded Tamzari who’d just broken eight years of Consortium conditioning through spite and sex.
“We hit The Fortress,” I said. “Get cache three. Then we go straight to my hidden hangar and steal my ship.”
“Simple.”
“It’s a terrible plan.”
“I know.” He stood. Winced. Started pulling his shirt back on. Blood had soaked through the synth-skin on his side, spreading in a dark stain. “I like your terrible plans.”
I checked the security feed on my datapad. The patrols were still sweeping the upper levels. We had maybe three hours before they worked their way down to our section.
Three hours to rest. To let him stabilize as much as possible. To prepare for the stupidest, most dangerous smash-and-grab of my career.
Three hours before we walked back into the heart of my empire and tried to take it back.
“Thoryn.”
“Mm?”
“If this goes wrong?—”
“It won’t.”
“But if it does?—”
“Then we go down fighting.” He crossed to me. Pulled me close. Careful of his wounds. “Together.”
The bond hummed its agreement.
Now it was our turn.
I pulled up the schematic for The Fortress. Started marking paths. Identifying weak points. Building the plan.
The Smuggler Queen was back. And she had work to do.
THORYN
