Chapter 1 #2
Zayn rolled. The guard probably didn’t have a lingual implant but almost everyone knew a smattering of English, the business language of the galaxy.
The guard had his gun trained on Zayn. He raised his hands.
Okay, shit. What now? Usually, it was Dathan who did this end of the hunting work. The guy was slipperier than a slink eel in a mud hole. But piloting through the vents needed Zayn’s skillset, so this job was Zayn’s, not Dathan’s. And Zayn had no idea how to get out of this.
All he had going for him was instinct. He slammed out with his foot and hit the Taurean’s knee. The guy grunted but didn’t move.
Another blast from the laser pistol and he felt the hot burn on his thigh.
Flame-burned son of a bitch! He grabbed the knife he kept tucked into his belt. In a quick move, he tossed it. It sliced into the guard’s shoulder. The guy let out a roar and fell backward, clutching at the bleeding wound. His weapon hit the floor with a thud.
Zayn grabbed it and jumped to his feet. It had been two years since he’d handled a gun. It felt cold and hard in his hands. Wrong.
His heart thundered. He stared at the laser pistol and the past he was running from crashed in on him.
The guard groaned again, and Zayn glanced up. One pull of the trigger and this guard could tell no stories, send no one after Zayn.
But an image of big, green eyes—eyes that haunted his dreams—made his stomach tighten.
He leaped forward and slammed the butt of the gun into the guard’s temple.
It hit the hard bone there and the guard grinned. Zayn hit again, this time the man’s nose. Green blood sprayed everywhere.
Staring at the gun for a moment, Zayn decided it was time to go. He dropped it and sprinted down the hall. He burst into the same bedroom he’d passed through before. The woman was gone. He yanked open the vent, and a moment later, was climbing into his flight-pod.
The small engines hummed to life, and he shot down the vent. He leaned his body into the turns, pushing the pod to get all the speed he could.
It felt like forever, but it was only a few minutes later when the pod shot out the external vent and into space.
Made it. This far, anyway. The pod’s engines were too small for the space station to detect, so he should be in the clear. He took in a deep breath and set a course to intercept the Infinitas.
He felt blood seeping from the wound on his thigh and slapped a hand over it. He was more annoyed by it than worried. They had a medscope on the ship that would heal him up in seconds.
It was the mission that had his blood boiling. This entire hunt had been a waste of time. He slammed his other hand against the side of the pod, causing it to rock.
He wanted to know who the fuck this bird-of-prey-taunting rival was and why the asshole had decided to mess with the Phoenix brothers. Zayn had been itching for a new mission, for something to keep him busy. And now he had it.
Maybe it wasn’t the same as tearing through space at interstellar speed, but he vowed he wasn’t going to stop until he found their tormentor.
“Who is this thief?” Niklas asked.
Zayn sat sprawled on a stool in the tiny alcove that housed their medical equipment on the ship.
The Infinitas was hauling ass away from Braxx’s space station and back to their home base—the small moon of Khan.
Dathan was competent at the controls, but Zayn felt a slight vibration in the engine that told him she needed his care and attention.
“I don’t know, but I sure as hell plan to find out.” He craned his neck. “Dathan, for God’s sake, adjust the thrusters.”
“You get your ass up here and fly this bucket,” came the response.
“Can’t. Your wife wants to play patient and nurse with me.” Zayn shot a grin at Eos who’d just plucked the metallic cylinder of the medscope off the shelf.
She returned his grin, nudging the braid of her dark-brown hair back over her shoulder. On her hands, her mehndi—the floral designs that looked almost like tattoos—were visible. They were unique to her race, the Vedic.
“And she’s so pretty,” Zayn added.
Dathan’s response was short and pithy.
“Stop teasing him.” Eos crouched and studied the bloody tear in his trousers. “Lucky that guard didn’t aim a little higher.”
Zayn winced at the thought and out of the corner of his eye saw Nik do the same. Eos clicked on the medscope and waved its soft blue light over his thigh.
Footsteps thunked on the corridor’s metal grating and Dathan appeared. As usual, he’d let his hair grow a little too long and it was a shaggy mess around his tough face.
“Ship’s on autopilot. I’ve already started putting out some feelers to our regular contacts. See if anyone knows anything about this new player.” He frowned. “Why is my wife so close to your crotch?”
“I think she’s decided she’s had enough of burned-out, old treasure hunters, and decided a younger, leaner space jock is more fun. Has more stamina.”
Dathan growled.
Eos clicked off the scope. “Stop it, both of you. All finished, Zayn.” She touched a finger to his face. “Glad you’re okay.” Then she turned to Dathan. “Now come here, my burned-out treasure hunter, and show me I picked the right Phoenix brother.”
Dathan wasted no time. He swept her into his arms and pressed a wild kiss to her lips. Eos gripped his shoulders, pressing her body into his.
Something in Zayn’s chest tightened. He was damned happy for his brother. If anyone deserved some happiness, it was Dathan. He’d copped the brunt of their father’s bitter disgruntlement with the world before the old man had drunk himself to death.
But as Zayn watched the couple—two people who belonged, who were making a life together, fulfilling all their passions—he felt something else he refused to name or acknowledge.
Zayn glanced over at Nik. His older brother had a brooding look on his face, his gaze zeroed in on Dathan and Eos as well. He was always more reserved, more academic than Dathan and Zayn, but lately broody had been his main mode of operation.
Zayn hopped off the stool. “If you two can drag yourselves away from each other for a few seconds, how about we discuss Mr. Bird of Prey. Guy’s becoming a right royal pain in the ass.”
Dathan swung an arm around Eos’ shoulders. “Damn straight. We need to work out who he is.”
“And how he knows about all our hunts,” Eos added.
Zayn and the others stared at her.
“Why the hell didn’t we think of that?” Zayn said. “How does he know what we’re going after?”
“I just want to know what the hell he wants,” Nik added.
Zayn had a thought. “You don’t think its Darc, do you?”
Nik pondered for only a second. “No, she doesn’t go for subtle. She’d be letting us know she’s stealing our targets and rub our faces in it. Just like all the other times she’s bested us.”
“Bitch,” Dathan added.
That she was, but since she’d helped save Dathan a few months back, they hadn’t heard from her. Zayn glanced at Nik’s closed face and felt a twinge of suspicion. Well, as far as Zayn knew they hadn’t.
“I’ll keep pushing our sources.” Dathan held Eos close to his side. “Someone must know who he is.”
“I’ll run some searches.” Nik crossed his arms over his chest. “See where he’s selling his goods.”
Zayn nodded. “We’ll start—” A discreet beep from the cockpit cut him off. “That’s an incoming message.”
He stalked to the command center and glanced at the large screen that controlled all the ship’s systems. A message blinked on the screen and he tapped it.
“Looks like someone’s already responded to your call, Dath. Darwood.”
Dathan grimaced. “Slippery bugger. But his intel’s always been solid, if a little old. Of course, he only sells it for an exorbitant price.”
“He says he might know something.” Zayn scanned the text. “But he’ll only meet in person.”
“Strange. Usually, he’s happy to do business over the comm.”
Zayn read the rest of it. “It gets worse. He wants to meet on Syntha.”
Even Nik cursed. Syntha was a megacity world.
Every inch of it was covered in neon-colored humanity and quite a few species that weren’t human.
There was the Sub World tunneled into the ground, the Tower World for those who lived in the mega-skyscrapers, and then the Sky World—communities built on huge floating platforms tethered to the towers for the richest of the rich.
The entire planet was filled with bars, strip joints, gambling dens, and brothels.
It was loud, chaotic, and full of people out to take your e-creds.
Zayn caught his brothers’ gazes. Then his sister-in-law’s.
She gave them a short nod. “We have to find out who this thief is and why he’s targeted us.”
Zayn turned to the control panel. “Setting course for Syntha.”