Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
“Captain, we’ve picked up the Trader’s Dart on sensors.”
Nissa stood behind her chair on the bridge, gripping the back of the seat. “Let’s catch ourselves a thief, Lieutenant Allard.”
“Hang on a second—” Gavin tapped at his screen “—there appears to be another ship with the Dart.”
Nissa’s gut tightened. “What?”
“No, wait…it’s gone. There’s sensor interference from electromagnetic radiation emissions from a nearby pulsar. It’s playing havoc with my readings.”
Another ship? Nissa frowned, a knot forming in her stomach. Well, there wasn’t much she could do until they reached the Trader’s Dart.
“Hold course. And let’s squeeze a little more speed out of engineering.”
“Yes, Captain.”
They’d spent hours searching the space around Galaxy’s Edge for Kenth’s ship. She wasn’t going to let him or the Constitution get away.
She pictured herself handing over the document to Admiral DeRuyter and finally getting a command back near Thusia. Her father would be thrilled. It was just the two of them and had been since her mother had died and her brother had…left.
“Kenth’s signature is on the far side of Ubinas,” Gavin added. “We’ll be in visual range momentarily.”
Ubinas was a small, uninhabitable planet covered in volcanoes and acid lakes. The only people who visited it were crazy sulfur miners looking for valuable chunks of bright-yellow sulfur.
Nissa tapped a finger against her chair. Come on, come on. She wanted that priceless document in her hands and then locked in the state-of-the-art safe in her cabin.
“Rounding Ubinas now,” Gavin said.
Nissa heard the excitement in the man’s voice.
She knew her crew was thrilled to be involved in recovering something as important as the Constitution.
They were used to less exciting missions out here on the edge.
Nissa scanned the bridge and all the familiar faces manning their stations.
She’d spent three years whipping them into shape.
They were a damned good crew. She felt a pang in her chest. She’d miss them once she was gone.
Ubinas passed close on their port side—a black rock covered in spots of red and turquoise blue.
Ahead, Kenth’s Dart came into view. Its engines were powered down.
And docked beside it was another very familiar runnership.
Nissa cursed and didn’t care that it was against protocol. Through clenched teeth she said, “Commander Tryker, prepare the boarding team for teletransportation. Keep it small.”
“Affirmative, Captain.”
As her security officer organized three of his best, Nissa pulled out her own laser pistol and checked it. She shoved it back into her holster and eyed Drayna. “You have command until I return.”
Her second offered her a nod. “Try to remember we arrest criminals, we don’t kill them.”
“I’ll try.” Nissa spun and stood with the boarding team. At her nod, the blue flash of the teletrans flared in front of her.
The cockpit of the Dart was small, so it was a tight fit for all of them, but Nissa paid no attention to her team rematerializing at her back.
Instead, her gaze was on the tall man in front of her. She saw some look cross Justyn’s handsome face. Guilt, she decided.
She flicked a look at the smaller man sitting at Justyn’s feet, his arms resting on his knees and his face bruised. Hewett Kenth.
Justyn stepped forward. “I can explain?—”
“Where is it?” She spoke with a ruthless calm she didn’t feel.
Justyn grimaced. “Well, there’s a story?—”
“No crap, Phoenix. Where is the Constitution?”
“Captain Smooth?—”
She strode up to him, her hand resting on her holstered pistol. “Now is not the time to test me. Where. Is. The. Document?”
Justyn eyed her pistol, then shrugged his broad shoulders. “It isn’t here.”
Damn him. Nissa’s jaw ached from clenching her teeth so hard. She was so angry at him and something in her chest ached. Wine, tobacco, luxury goods, she could forgive. But this…not even she could forgive him this. “Commander Tryker, arrest both these men and escort them to the Freedom’s brig.”
Justyn’s silver-gray eyes flickered, but for once there was no careless grin on his face. “I can explain, Nissa.”
She turned away from him and speared her head of security with a look. “Get more people over here. Tear this ship apart. I want the Constitution found.”
Nissa strode out of the cockpit. She’d thought that finally locking Justyn Phoenix in the brig would make her happy.
It didn’t.
Justyn lay on his back on the low bunk, hands clasped under his head, staring at the ceiling of his cell.
He’d spun his wheels in quite a few brigs in his time. Nissa’s really wasn’t that bad.
Still, he felt…unsettled. That look she’d given him in the cockpit of Kenth’s ship had seared through him and left him feeling shredded inside.
He heard voices in the corridor outside and turned his head. There was a large synth-glass window and a solid metal door beside it. The GSS didn’t muck around with force fields that could fail if the power systems went down.
The door swung open and when Nissa entered. Justyn swiveled to sit up, his hands resting on either side of him on the bunk.
“You can go,” she spat.
Fuck, she was mad. Her voice was as cold as Perman ice and her lovely body was rigid as steel.
“That’s it?” he asked.
Her yellow eyes narrowed. “This isn’t a joke, Phoenix.”
No, it wasn’t. “I take it your search didn’t uncover the Constitution? And that you learned, like I did, that someone had already relieved Kenth of the document.”
She didn’t say anything, but he saw the truth of his words reflected in her face.
“He tell you who took it?” Justyn continued.
“Jonas Solomon.”
“Treasure hunter. Cheeky upstart, from what I hear.”
“That moniker suits someone else I know.”
Her dry tone and the slightest softening of her stiff shoulders told him he was forgiven. Well, not entirely, but at least a little bit. “I can help you find Solomon.”
“I don’t need your help.”
Oh, but he wanted to help her. Seeing her look at him with disappointment and distrust had almost gutted him.
He’d kept his distance from the delicious captain, but damned if he didn’t want a little taste of all that golden skin.
He’d wanted her for so damn long, and he also wanted to prove to her he wasn’t just a shifty smuggler.
“Come on, Nissa. You know I have contacts on Galaxy’s Edge who wouldn’t talk to you if you paid them a million e-creds. I can help find out where Solomon’s gone.”
She leaned in closer. “You think I don’t know what would have happened if you’d beaten Solomon to Kenth? I’d be chasing your ass around the quadrant.”
“Not true. I would have handed the Constitution over to the appropriate authorities.”
“And pocketed the finder’s fee.”
He held out his hands and shot her a smile. “I can’t live on recycled air alone, Captain Smooth.”
She snorted, her gaze slipping down his body. “I’d say you live just fine on all your smuggling gains.”
“I’ve never been caught smuggling or formally charged.”
She rolled her eyes. “Get off my ship, Phoenix.” She turned to leave.
“Fuck.” He grabbed her arm. “Nissa, I can help you find Solomon.”
She looked down at his hand, then back at his face. “You watch your language on my ship.”
He winced. “Sorry. Bad habit of mine.”
“I’ll find Solomon. I already have my team working on it.”
“Before he sells the Constitution to the highest bidder?”
Her jaw clenched.
Justyn went in for the kill. “Besides, I know some people who keep close tabs on Solomon. Know how he operates, where his favorite hangouts are, who his favorite buyers are.” Justyn grimaced. “I’m related to them, in fact.”
Nissa’s yellow eyes turned considering. “You’re talking about the famous Phoenix brothers.”
“Hey, me, Dare, and Ry aren’t exactly unknown.”
She smiled now. “Out here on the edge, maybe. But you aren’t the galaxy-renowned treasure-hunting Phoenix brothers. I hear Dathan Phoenix is a fine specimen to behold.”
Justyn felt the sting to his pride, but her widening smile told him she was needling him. “He’s married,” Justyn said stiffly.
She stood there studying Justyn until he felt like a specimen in her ship’s science lab.
He smiled and bumped her with his shoulder. “Come on, Nissa. Let’s work together and get this artifact back.”
She let out a gusty sigh. “Fine. But while you’re on my ship, you follow my orders.” She raised a brow. “Think you can handle that?”
He tried to hide his triumphant smile. “I think I can handle that just fine. You won’t regret this.”
She swiveled on the heels of her polished boots, then looked back over her shoulder. “I already do.”