The Star Thief (27 page)

Excuses, excuses
.

Renna found Lieutenant Keva pacing the hallway outside of Captain Finn’s room. Her usually immaculate uniform hung in wrinkles from her thin frame, and she’d pulled her silver hair back into a messy ponytail. Dark smudges framed her eyes.

Gods, was the prognosis that bad? Renna had to clear her throat before asking, “What’s the news, Lieutenant?”

Keva’s head snapped up at the sound of her voice. “He’s out of surgery. Doc says he stopped the bleeding. Captain’s going to make it.”

The muscles in Renna’s stomach unclenched in a giddy wave of relief. “That’s great news. Hey, why don’t you go get some rest? You’ve been here all day. I’ll watch him for a while.”

Keva glanced at Finn’s door, then down at the floor. “I don’t know. I think…”

“I think you should get back to the ship, update the crew, and get some sleep. Finn will be fine, and I’ll make sure he knows what’s going on the second he wakes up.”

“Okay.” Keva nodded slowly. “I’d like to make sure the crew is all right. There were some repairs we needed to make.” She smiled at Renna before turning to leave. “I’m glad you were around to rescue the captain. I know we didn’t get off to the best start, but I’m happy I was wrong about you.” Even exhausted, the woman still marched like a soldier as she walked toward the elevators.

Renna sank onto one of the benches lining the wall and played with her implant, downloading the schematics of the hospital, plotting out where the lab safes were, even inspecting the rankings of this place compared with the other galactic hospitals in the traverse. A few nurses bustled down the hallway, not paying any attention to her. Then a gurney bearing a familiar body rolled by, pushed by two orderlies.

She shot to her feet, pulse hammering in her ears. An ugly purple bruise shadowed Finn’s jaw, but the thing that shook her was how still and waxy he looked lying motionless on the bed.

He looked dead.

The air left Renna’s lungs in a violent whoosh. Had Keva been wrong? Did the doctor give her the wrong information? Had something else happened?

She couldn’t do this again. She’d already lost him once. Her hands curled into fists, her nails digging into her palms as she fought the wave of nausea that threatened to take her down.

“Miss? Is everything all right?” one of the orderlies asked. He put a hand on her arm, jerking her out of the spiraling panic that threatened to take hold.

“What?”

“Are you all right?” he asked again, looking concerned.

“The captain. How is he?” The words came out on a shrill whisper, but she didn’t care. She could only stare, wide-eyed, as a smile washed over his face.

“Yes, of course.” He shook his head. “Don’t worry, he’s still asleep from the surgery. It went very well. We stopped the internal bleeding, and his ribs should be mended in a few days. We’re going to get him comfortable before you go in to see him.”

Her knees went weak, and she sat down heavily in her chair. Finn was going to be fine. But as the fear drained away, the tsunami of relief was even more unsettling.

She cared what happened to him. Too much.

Pain bit into the palms of her hands. She looked down to crescent-shaped marks embedded into the skin where her nails had nearly broken through. She glanced over at the exit. If she was smart, she’d get the hell out of here right now before she got sucked in any further.

Renna rose to her feet. She couldn’t afford to get involved with a man like Finn. He stood for everything she’d fought against: law, order, blindly following the rules.

But instead of leaving the hospital, her feet took her into Finn’s room.

One of the nurses adjusted the Temifen IV and ran a small machine up and down Finn’s body. “Vitals stable. He should be coming out of the anesthesia momentarily.” The drone by her head flashed a bright light across the bed, and Finn blinked.

The latest surgery drugs used ultraviolet light as a catalyst to remove the medication immediately from the system, instead of leaving the patient groggy and confused. Most of the time, the patients were completely awake and normal within minutes.

“How are you feeling, Captain?” the nurse asked, hovering over him.

He blinked again and licked his lips. “Better than I expected.” His voice was hoarse, but there was still a hint of humor there.

“We have you on some pain medication for now, but the surgery was successful and you’ll make a full recovery. The facial swelling and bruising should be gone by tomorrow.” She patted Finn’s shoulder. “Try to get some rest now.” The nurse bustled out of the room, leaving Renna standing awkwardly near the door.

Across the room, Finn’s gaze met hers. “You’re still here?”

His blue eyes were the right color again.

Renna smiled. “Where else would I be?”

“I don’t know. Halfway to some garden planet? I wouldn’t blame you.”

“That hurts, Captain,” she teased. But inside, guilt snaked around her heart. How had he guessed the truth?

Finn’s head fell back onto his pillows, and he closed his eyes briefly against the movement. “I’m glad Dallas was right about you. We never would have gotten out of there without you.” He took a few seconds to catch his breath, then asked, “What happened? I don’t remember much after the beating.”

She pulled up a stool and sat beside his bed, her mind whirling. Did he not remember their kiss? Or the stories they’d exchanged?

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Some emotion must have flitted across her face because Finn raised his eyebrow. “Did I do something embarrassing?”

“No, not at all. We managed to subdue our guards, find the security room, and escape the facility. It was all very exciting.”

“I get bits and pieces of memories, but it’s all kind of blurry. Hopefully it’ll come back soon.” He sighed and gingerly touched his swollen face. “We do not have time for me to be laid up like this.”

“You’ll be better soon. I’m working on a few leads right now myself, so hopefully by the time you’re back on the
Athena
, we’ll have a plan.”

“I think I remember robots,” he said with a frown. “Was that real?”

She nodded. “And we discovered they were making some sort of drug there. I have a contact analyzing it now. Hopefully it’ll help us figure out who owns the place and what it is they’re doing.”

“Thank you.” Though Finn was still slightly groggy from the drugs, she’d swear there was something else there behind his eyes. Friendship perhaps? “Seems I owe you another apology—and my life.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” Renna got to her feet. “You need to get some rest. I already contacted the MYTH office on this planet like you said, but we still haven’t heard back from them. Hopefully they’ll find us soon.”

“We’ve already found you.” A thin man with gray hair strode into the room. Even though he wore brown pants and a button-down shirt, he carried himself like a soldier. Like Dallas had.

Finn struggled to sit up. “Major Larson.”

“At ease, Captain.” Larson shut the door behind him, then approached Finn’s bed. “We received the
Athena
’s transmission several hours ago but had to verify the electronic signature. I’m sorry it took so long. With the destruction of the Hesperia branch, we’ve been cut off from a lot of our operatives.”

“I understand, sir. I wasn’t in a position to question the delay.”

“I see that. Miss Carrizal will fill me in on the latest mission report. I think you should focus on getting some rest.”

Her gaze snapped to the major’s, and he gave her a ghost of a smile. She wasn’t military, and she certainly wasn’t MYTH. Why wouldn’t he ask for a debrief from Keva?

Finn shook his head. “I’d like to be present, sir. It was my mission after all.”

“Permission denied. I’ve already lost too many good men this month. You need to focus on getting better. Miss Carrizal will be fine with me, I promise.”

Finn frowned at both of them, but didn’t say anything.

Major Larson nodded. “We’ll debrief tomorrow. Goodnight, Captain.” He turned to Renna. “Shall we?”

She followed him from the room, glancing back at Finn at the last moment. He was gritting his teeth so hard she could almost hear it from the door.

“I took the liberty of requesting a conference room here, Miss Carrizal,” the major said, opening a door down the hall. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t trust you with the location of our headquarters yet.”

“Why should you? I just saved the lives of your entire team.” Her tone was unexpectedly bitter as she took a seat at the small conference table. Damn Finn and damn her stupid feelings for him.

“I am very aware of your contributions, Miss Carrizal. I am also very aware of the company you keep.”

Of course. They’d seen her with Viktis. She’d been so busy following him she hadn’t even given a thought someone might be following her.

“Viktis has agreed to help us track down the boy. Since he was the last to see Myka, I thought it was a good idea to use him.”

“Very resourceful. I just want to make sure you don’t decide to join him once the boy is found.” The major sat across the table from her and regarded her with a cool expression. “I’m familiar with your work, Renna. I must say you’ve had some very impressive jobs in your past. MYTH can definitely use someone of your skill level.”

“That’s what Major Dallas said when he…convinced me to join this mission.”

“Erik was a smart man. I’m glad to see you took his conversation seriously. Now, tell me what happened at the facility. We’ve had three surveillance teams on that place for months, and no one has been able to crack it.”

Renna gave him the bare bones of what had happened, leaving out the kiss with Finn. She figured the robot army was bad enough.

“So what are your next steps?” Larson asked.

“I was hoping you could tell us,” she said, leaning back in her chair. “Do you have any intel on the boy? Or who the facility might belong to? It feels like we’ve reached a dead end.”

She could play this game as well as he could.

Larson shook his head. “Not at this time. We have reports of an attack on Chasa Nine and have sent a team to investigate.”

She frowned. Chasa was close. She’d assumed the attacks were related to the kid, but if they had Myka already, what else were they looking for? “Why that planet?”

“Right now we have nothing besides a small clay manufacturing facility. It’s barely a blip on the black market radar.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Renna shrugged. “I’m not MYTH. I don’t have any resources.”

“I want you to keep digging for who created the robots you found at the facility and how those drugs are connected. And because you’re not MYTH, you can do it without anyone the wiser. We need your skills, Renna. And when your friend uncovers whatever it is you sent him to find, we’ll let you do what you need to. Just keep Captain Finn out of it. He’s one of our best. I need him to stay that way.”

“You think I’m going to corrupt him? Or recruit him to be a pirate like Viktis?” She shook her head with a chuckle. “I promise you’re safe there. Finn’s one hundred percent military. He’d never do that. But thanks for suggesting I’m that talented.”

“I don’t think it—I know it. You forget we’ve been following you.”

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “Right. Then let me ask you a question. Dallas offered me a deal if I did this job. Are you going to make good on it when this is all over?”

“Dallas had permission from the highest level of our organization to bring you on board. We will honor your agreement with him.” Larson shifted in his chair. “Do you intend to honor your agreement?”

And there was the question. The chains of responsibility tightened across her chest until she couldn’t breathe.

“Miss Carrizal?”

“Yes, I intend to honor my agreement.” The words felt like stones falling from her lips, each one heavier than the next. Tying her to these people. And yet there was a part of her that seemed lighter somehow, knowing she’d be part of the team a little longer. Knowing she’d be around Finn.

Larson got to his feet. “I’m glad to hear it. Now go get some rest, you look like you could use it. I’ll check in on Captain Finn tomorrow. The doctors say he’ll be ready for duty again in two or three days. We’ll hold a debrief with the rest of the crew then.”

“Yes, sir.” She resisted the urge to salute as Larson left the room. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up thinking she actually
was
one of these people.

TWENTY-FOUR