Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Ithink this’ll be the best point for infiltration.”
“I don’t think so, Dath. Check out this spot on the southern wall.”
Zayn watched his brothers argue and debate. They were all leaning over the Assassin Guild plans—newly scanned off the plas-sheet stolen from the Tekton—on the holo-table. Eos and Ria stood on the other side, talking quietly between themselves.
Zayn found his gaze returning to Ria. She’d pulled her hair back in a tight ponytail and was wearing dark leather pants with a loose white shirt. She looked different without the body armor. Softer. Friendlier.
Not that she was sending him any friendly vibes. All he was getting now was either the occasional blank stare or a glare.
Not that he didn’t deserve it.
He’d replayed their kiss in the cockpit…oh, maybe a hundred times. When he’d kissed her, he’d known he was kissing Ria. The woman he’d just finished surviving a dangerous mission with.
But he couldn’t lie. Some part of him had thought of Vik.
Ria looked the same, sounded the same, and sometimes used the same mannerisms. But Viktoria had been a stickler for the rules, always living for the mission. Ria was more relaxed, more flexible. Vik would never have stolen anything, even if it was the right thing to do.
He frowned. It had been one aspect of Vik he hadn’t liked.
She refused to question their orders, even when she’d known they hadn’t been right.
She’d told him good Strike Wing pilots followed orders.
Yet, Zayn had always known a good pilot didn’t just follow the rules of flying.
It took guts, and some risks, to be truly exceptional. Vik had never understood that.
His brothers’ arguing brought him back to the present. He forced himself to focus on the blueprints of the Guild Headquarters. “Whatever way we get in, there will be far too many highly trained killers inside.”
Ria tapped her fingers against the table. “What are you saying? That it’s too hard for you? You want to quit?”
“No.” He watched her steadily. “I’m saying we need to lure them out.”
“Excellent idea,” Eos said. “Empty the place and we increase our odds.”
Dathan crossed his arms over his chest. “What would entice them out? What’s the perfect bait for an assassin?”
All eyes went to Ria.
“A big target. Or a failed target. Someone they’ve been after for a long time.”
Zayn leaned his elbows on the table. “And who would that be?”
Ria’s gaze turned inward. “I can only think of one. Lastite Lala.”
Zayn shared looks with their brothers, who both shrugged. “Lastite? As in the highly volatile explosive?”
“Yes.”
“Who is Lastite Lala?” Zayn asked.
“She’s a crazy bomb maker. Notorious for making the absolute best explosives on the black market. Her goods have been responsible for a lot of death and destruction.”
“She likes lastite, I take it?” Zayn asked.
Ria nodded. “It’s one of her favorite explosives. Rather disturbing to think of a fifteen-year-old who loves to play with the galaxy’s most dangerous explosive.”
“A fifteen-year-old notorious bomb maker?” Eos’ eyes were wide.
“Yep,” Ria added. “And crazy. Don’t forget that.”
“Where do we find her?” Dathan asked.
Ria winced. “I have no idea. The Guild has never been able to track her down.”
“Can we approach as buyers again?” Eos suggested.
“Maybe,” Zayn mused. “But I don’t like the idea of going in completely blind. Nik, can you and BEll run some searches, see if you can find any info on this Lala?”
“On it,” BEll said as Nik nodded.
“I think Eos and I will head down to Souk and see Sel,” Dathan said.
Selesos ran a store on the market world selling electronics—and weapons—of all kinds. He might know something.
“And me?” Ria asked.
“You and I will keep going over these blueprints. Identify the primary way in and a Plan B.”
She didn’t look too happy about his answer. “Fine.”
The team scattered. Zayn and Ria worked on the plans until he found his eyes were blurring.
“If we can create a diversion, I think we come in here.” He pointed to an air duct.
“They have security on all the services.” She raised a brow. “They protect all the same weak points they use to infiltrate other people’s bases.”
Her snarky, cold tone was starting to grate on him. “So what do you suggest?”
She chewed on her lip for a second. “I suggest we use the front door.”
“What?” he asked, incredulous.
“Do what they won’t expect. If we can find Lastite Lala and use her to draw most of the assassins out, they’ll be in a bit of disarray. I sneak in, dressed as an assassin, and find the derringer.”
“We sneak in.”
She shook her head. “They’ll pick you out as a flyboy from a mile away.”
“I can dress up and I can blend.”
“Fine. It all depends if we find Lala or not.” Ria stretched her shoulders.
He realized his muscles were tight as well. “Dathan and Eos won’t be back for another hour or so. Why don’t we take a break? You want something to eat?”
She shook her head. “I saw your gym downstairs. Think I’ll go and work out for a bit.” She swept out without a second glance.
Zayn stared at the empty doorway. She was still mad at him. Which wouldn’t be good for their mission. You couldn’t take your emotions with you into a dangerous situation, or they’d get you killed.
Without thinking, he followed her.
Moments later, he stood in the doorway to their spacious gym, watching her move.
She’d switched her casual clothes for form-fitting leggings in electric blue and a black tank that molded to her skin.
She was moving her arms through the air, bending her knees deep and doing sweeping movements that looked like a cross between martial arts and a dance.
The graceful moves were almost hypnotic.
Then she spun and kicked high in the air before moving back into the slower, controlled moves.
“You just going to stare?” She turned slowly, leading with her hands, palms open, her gaze hitting him.
“What is it?”
“The Guild call it taiji.” She turned again, lifting a leg, extending it up in an awesome display of flexibility.
“I imagined you doing cross-fighting. Something deadly, high impact. You used to like that.”
Ria stilled, her arms dropping to her sides. “I’m not her.”
Idiot. “Right. I’m sorry.”
She started the moves again, this time with a little less grace.
He stepped out onto the mats. Damn, he wanted to make it right. “I figured the Guild would prefer cross-fighting.” The mixed style of fighting used elements taken from all the galaxy’s different methods of hand-to-hand fighting.
“They teach us. I can show you if you’d like.” Her smile was sharp. “One kick and I could break your neck.”
Right. “I’ll take your word on it.”
She moved her hands, her body bending like a slim tree in the wind. “Taiji isn’t so much about killing, it’s about settling the mind, balancing your energies.”
“Sounds very old Earth.”
“It has its origins there, although they’re murky now. We don’t know exactly where it came from.”
“So, you’re feeling the need to balance your energies?”
She looked over her shoulder. “Yeah. Being hunted, stealing things, and dealing with you, it’s left me a little…out of balance.”
He stepped toward her. “I came here to apologize. I didn’t kiss you because you remind me of Vik. I just…wanted to kiss senseless the hot woman who I’d just enjoyed a brilliant hunt with.”
Ria stopped and stared at him. “Jesus, Phoenix, you have no pretty words do you?”
He shrugged. “I’m just a simple pilot.”
She huffed out a breath. “There’s nothing simple about you. And for some crazy reason, it works for me.”
He smiled. “I rub off on everyone after a while.”
She gave a choking laugh, then the humor bled from her eyes. “I’m not just angry at you. I’m angry at myself because there’s something I haven’t told you.”
His muscles tensed. Damn. Now what? “Okay.”
“I dream about you.”
He blinked. What?
“I mean—” she clenched her hands together “—your face is in my dreams. It started a few months ago. That’s why I came to you. Not just to help me steal the derringer.”
Zayn’s entire body tensed. Vik. It had to be.
This woman was Vik.
Ria hated confessing to him. Not because she’d lied, but because he would just continue to believe she was someone else.
She saw it all over his face. The bright spark of hope.
Her heart contracted, hard as a stone. Someone else wanting her to be something she wasn’t. The assassins wanted her to be a killer, and Zayn wanted her to be Viktoria.
Why did no one just want her for her?
“There’s some explanation for this, Ria.” His words were slow and steady. Like he was worried he’d make her skittish.
She’d told him because it was the right thing to do and because maybe it would stop this inexorable drag she felt toward him.
Zayn Phoenix would always see another woman when he looked at her. She couldn’t let herself forget that.
“Maybe there is. I suspect the only way we’ll find out is inside the Guild Headquarters.” Suddenly, she was angry. Angry at Zayn, the Guild, at the perfect Vik, and at herself. “You know what, why don’t I show you some of that cross-fighting now?”
His blue eyes turned wary. No doubt he read her mood perfectly.
She sank back into a fighting stance and waved her fingers. “You can make the first move.”
Zayn studied her for a second before he, too, moved into a similar stance, his hands raised in front of his face. He waited for so long she thought maybe he wasn’t going to fight her.
Then he moved.
Fast.
His kick didn’t quite make contact. He was holding back.
She didn’t hold anything back. Her kick hit hard abs. He staggered back with a grunt. “Dammit, Ria.”
“I want a workout, not a dance.”
The blue of his eyes ignited. “Fine.”
This time his hit was harder. They circled, kicked, struck out. Ria ducked and spun. She fired back with kicks and blows of her own.
Once, he took her down to the mat, but she leaped back to her feet in an instant, and the next time he was the one skidding across the mat.
Soon they were both breathing hard. He was a good opponent. His lean body had strength, but it was his speed that he used to his advantage.
One second, she was kicking him, next he gripped her leg and forced her back. She fell, and a second later, his lean body followed, pinning her to the mat.
“I win,” he said.
His face was close to hers. She smelled healthy male sweat and her gut clenched. How could she want him so much?
His mouth inched closer to hers. “I’m going to kiss you again.”
She quivered. She shouldn’t want this, him. “Do you know who you’re kissing?”
His lips nipped at hers. “Ria.” Then he took her mouth.
She was helpless against the onslaught. She wanted his kiss. She wanted him.
They rolled across the mat, tearing into each other. Ria clawed at him, wanting to tear his clothes away.
“Hey, Z? Dath and I…shit.”
Niklas’ voice froze them both.
Zayn stared down at her for a second before he looked up. “Bad timing, Nik.”
“Yeah, I got that. Sorry.”
Ria pushed at Zayn until he moved off her. She sat up.
Nik studiously avoided looking at her. “Dathan’s back from Souk. He found Lastite Lala’s location.”