Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Z ed always felt off the first twenty-four hours following a shift-induced seizure. His head seemed too big, his movements were uncoordinated enough to be noticeable, and his vision was just that much more wrong. But none of that would keep him from tracking down their newest lead.

Someone had disturbed the three bodies they'd left behind. Flick's trackers had started pinging frantically about twenty minutes ago, and there was no way in hell Zed was letting Elias accompany Flick to investigate—especially not after the welcome they'd gotten the day before.

Vines dangled from the ceiling overhead, making Zed feel like they were on a reconnaissance mission planetside rather than on a station. They didn't quite mesh with his memories of the place. When he'd visited Chloris with his father years ago, the vines had been so thick he couldn't see the stars above them. It had been like walking through a green cave—still was, sort of, but the combat that had damaged part of the main docking area must have extended well into the station.

As they wound their way deeper into Chloris, the distinct aroma of soil and plants faded, replaced by less pleasant organic smells combined with the sharp tang of metal. Zed had always associated the scent of a station with Flick, though he hadn't actually lived on a station for over half his life, now. The combination of life and metal just suited him.

Flick paused before they reached their destination, casually leaning against a wall to check his bracelet. Zed matched his posture. His eyes remained active, evaluating the figures that pushed past them. Nothing triggered his suspicion. All the people on this level seemed intent on keeping to themselves and just getting from one point to another as quickly as possible. It might be a different story later, when the lower-level nightlife picked up. He'd already spotted a pair of bars on their walk that weren't yet open for business, and there would be others that didn't advertise. Despite all stations having unique cultures and traditions, some things were just universal. Back-alley joints were one of them.

"Our dance happened down that hall," Flick said.

Zed resisted the urge to crane his neck around the perpendicular corner. He remembered what it looked like: a lot emptier and much more plain than the main drag on which they stood.

"Ongoing readings?" he asked.

"Yep." An expression of triumph flashed across Flick's face as his display blipped again.

Zed leaned close, as though he was trying to convince his lover to indulge in a public kiss. Around here, no one would notice two men snogging against the wall, but standing around, looking tense for other reasons? That would sound alarms.

"What's the plan?" he whispered.

"We need clues, not more bodies."

Zed tried not to flinch. "Right."

"You good with that?"

"State the mission. It'll help, if I have to…" He shrugged.

"Mission has two objectives," Flick said, his voice falling into the cadence of their training as if he'd served only yesterday. "First, gather intel for the whereabouts of Emma Katze. Second, avoid anyone with a moth tattoo."

Zed repeated the objectives silently. Right now, he grasped all the various layers of importance to the two goals: the whys, the reasons, the underlying need. In the Zone, those layers didn't matter. Only the objective remained, and in the absence of an assigned mission, Zed had defaulted each time to keeping Flick safe, regardless of the means required to do so.

"Got it," he said. "Team B?"

Flick tapped his bracelet. "Elias, Nessa. We're in position."

Nessa's voice hissed through the open connection. "We should have code names."

Elias quickly overrode her. "We're in position."

"Location?"

A gray blip appeared on the display. They were monitoring a second approach that could also be used as an exit.

"Got it."

"Ready?" Zed said.

Flick switched off his wallet and reached up to grab Zed by the back of the head. He tugged Zed's lips down to his own for a hard, over-too-soon kiss.

Zed blinked down at him. "What the hell?"

"Never heard of a good luck kiss?"

"Good luck kisses don't involve tongue."

Flick winked. "Okay, I'm ready. Be careful."

Zed brushed this thumb over Flick's cheek. "Same goes."

He kept his stance relaxed and unconcerned as they turned the corner and slipped into the seemingly empty corridor. Nothing to see here, ignore us. Possible scenarios of what they'd find flitted through his head. Station security cataloguing the bodies, maybe, or more Agrius looking for revenge. Hell, maybe one of the dead guys wasn't dead and he'd started twitching.

He sure as fuck didn't expect to see Emma Katze slipping out of the room where they'd stashed the corpses. She fiddled with the lock, unaware of their presence.

Zed's mouth dropped open and he jogged forward a few steps before his feet froze to the floor. He reached out automatically to grab Flick, keeping him well out of range of the woman standing in front of them.

"Emma?" he said, his voice tentative.

Her shoulders stiffened. Turning, she glared at them. Then her spine lost some of its rigidity. "Fuck."

"Good to see you too."

Emma straightened, her lithe form just as muscular and cut as he remembered. Whatever she'd been doing for these past six months, she'd kept herself in shape. Long brown hair was gathered in a messy, knotty bun low at the back of her head, and multiple strands had escaped to brush her ears and neck. Her trousers were almost as worn and ragged as Flick's, and her dull SFT sported a tear in one long sleeve. A half-healed cut stretched from the left side of her jaw, toward her ear, disappearing beyond her hairline.

The hope that all of this was just one big misunderstanding or mistake faded.

"Did they send you, Zed?" she demanded, her gaze flat. But not Zone-flat, thank God.

"No. I'm as in the wind as you are."

Her gaze drifted to Flick. After a second, her eyes widened. "Holy fuck. Is that?—"

"Hey, Emma."

"You're dead."

"That's what he thought too." Flick jerked his head at Zed. "Y'all need to talk to the AEF about better comms."

"He knows," Zed said.

Emma's gaze whipped back to Zed. "You told him?"

"We had a few run-ins with Agrius." Zed hoped that was all the explanation she'd need. He didn't want to reveal his lapses on the Chaos —neither incident would prompt any sort of confidence in him, and right now, he needed Emma to believe he was in control and knew what he was doing.

Even if he didn't have a fucking clue.

"Shit." She hunched a shoulder at the hidden room behind her. "That was you?"

"Yeah."

"You after the bounty?"

Ouch. "Emma. Come on."

"He hired my ship and crew to haul ass over here and find you," Flick said. "What the hell happened?"

"What, you mean before or after the AEF fucked us over?" She shrugged and brushed a hand over her hair. "I got tired of staring at the mirror and trying to see the insanity."

"Damn it?—"

"Agrius let me use my skills. Gave me support. They appreciate me, which is more than I can say for the AEF."

Flick craned his head and examined Emma's neck. "No tattoo, though."

"Hell no. I might work for 'em, but they don't own me."

Zed wasn't sure if that was better or worse. "Why didn't you contact me?"

She laughed, a humorless sound. "Right. How? You cut us loose just as thoroughly as the AEF. All those pretty words of yours, how we'd stick together, how you'd always be there…all fucking bullshit."

Zed clenched his jaw, unable to argue. She was right. He'd isolated himself, completely. "I was fucked in the head."

"We all were. We all are. " Emma sighed and her gaze lost some of its challenge. "I lost it."

"I know."

"I…" She cleared her throat. "I killed good guys."

"I know. Look, we'll get you off-station. We'll get you some help."

"What kind of help?"

"We'll figure something out. You're not alone anymore, I promise. Listen, we shouldn't linger here." Not next to a room full of bodies, not near Agrius territory. "Let's go back to the ship. We can talk more there."

Emma was a beautiful woman and she'd always been the put-together sort, her uniform fitting as if it had been tailored for her rather than issued by a quartermaster. That she usually kept her gear stowed neatly might have had something to do with that. Now, she looked as if she wore all she possessed, and even that was going to fall off her soon. Felix recognized the fashion, and the wear and tear. She'd run from something, or maybe to something, and now she was hiding out—probably more from herself than any perceived enemy. Personal demons were the most tenacious, though.

Studying her drawn features, Felix wondered if she suffered the same sort of fits as Zed and decided that she probably did. Sadness trickled through his veins, cold and leaden. He hated to see Emma like this.

He never wanted to see Zed like this.

For a moment, he was struck dumb by the idea he was going to lose two of his oldest friends. Worse, he felt powerless to do anything about it. But…loitering in a quiet corridor wouldn't accomplish anything.

"We're going to need an alternate route back to your ship. Docks are crawling with AEF," Emma said.

Zed looked away from Emma with obvious reluctance, as if he feared she would disappear if he averted his gaze. He barely glanced at the map.

"Which is why we're going to use the service corridors," Felix explained.

"The AEF is watching those too."

Zed produced a tight smile. "Not all of them. This is an Anatolius station and not every corridor is listed on the public maps."

Felix tapped his comm. "Eli?"

"Here."

"We found Emma."

"Holy shit."

Felix gave Emma a quick wink. The gesture felt weird. The whole situation was damned weird. "We're going to try accessing the docks through the research labs."

"Got it." Elias fiddled with something, the sound a susurrus of static . "We'll follow behind. Just out of sight."

"Sing out if you see anything."

"Not gonna sing, man, but I will ping you."

Felix checked the map one more time before deactivating the display. "Let's move out."

The back of his neck itched and crawled until they ascended to the level above. There, they joined the main concourse. Ironically, the crowd felt safer than the relative quiet of the lower levels. He tried to judge the time by the flow of traffic but couldn't get a precise fix—the blackness of space outside the elevated windows offered no clue. Felix ignored the urge to check his bracelet. He didn't need to know what time it was —how many hours had passed since they docked or since he'd found out the truth about Zed. He'd rather keep a hold of the feeling they were close to their goal, even if leaving Chloris with Emma on board presented yet another challenge.

Beside him, both Zed and Emma remained quiet and alert. He'd expected them both to vibrate with tension, but they had probably had that trained out of them five years before. Covert ops wasn't for the nervy and the twitchy.

"AEF at nine o'clock," Zed murmured, his lips barely moving. "Check the window to your right."

Felix didn't understand the instruction until he looked at the window and caught the reflection of the soldiers. A man and a woman, both in Ground Ops uniforms. He wasn't surprised by the desert camo. Military was military, as far as most people knew. A uniform, a uniform. What they didn't know was that these soldiers had probably been recently assigned because the AEF didn't have enough personnel to field Station Ops teams in this region of space. It would be years before recruitment replenished the ranks, according to the latest he'd heard from Marnie. She liked to send him nuggets of info like that, subtle warnings to watch his ass.

The soldiers appeared wary but bored. Complacency hadn't dulled their edge, though. Worn clothes, military bearing or sheer dumb luck had the female glancing their way.

"Fuck," Zed murmured.

Would scanning a map for the nearest exit look suspicious?

A familiar dark head bobbed through the crowd, a tangle of red curls right beside. Elias and Nessa, trying for distraction. The female turned an annoyed expression toward the couple standing in front of her, but her companion looked over their heads to lock eyes with Felix.

Well, if that wasn't uncomfortable…

"If I don't see you in the research corridors, I'll meet you on the ship."

"What are you doing?"

"What I do best. Take care of Emma."

Felix directed a quick smile at Zed and Emma and then ducked sideways, into the crowd. He moved roughly, deliberately knocking shoulders and stepping on feet. Issuing loud apologies, he stumbled again, catching himself on a guy wearing a shiny suit. Felix's glove caught on his lapel. He jerked it free, taking a thread with it.

"Hey, watch it…"

The admonishment faded behind him as Felix ran, ducking and weaving. His contrived stumble had caused enough of a scene to gain the soldier's attention, though, and he soon heard the steady thump of boot soles behind him. Dipping his head, Felix poured all his anxiety into his legs and ran harder. The soldier didn't call out, but the sea of humanity parted for them anyway. If they'd been two levels down, Felix could have counted on the crowd to close into knots against the soldier, but up here, folks were all law-abiding and shit.

Something grazed his shoulder, leaving a sting behind. Not as effective as a touch stun, but it could still hurt enough to slow him, distract him, maybe knock his legs out from under him. He didn't dare turn. Putting on a last burst of speed, he rounded a corner, pushed himself into a narrow lane and pelted toward the end. There, he turned left instead of right, doubling back on himself, and skidded to a halt by the closest door. The all-access code Zed had passed to every member of the team made quick work of the door.

Felix wished he'd had it on their first foray—not that he minded hacking locks. But he understood Zed's desire to limit the use—Anatolius Security could track it. They'd know he'd been in this room. Zed would have to just use one of his megawatt smiles to explain it away. Man, it was sweet to have access to every corner of the station, though. Without a soldier on his heels, Felix could really take advantage of something like this—if he were so inclined to. Except he wasn't, 'cause he wasn't a thief. Not really. Just sort of nosy. And he liked shiny things.

Footsteps halted in the junction outside his door. After a quick pause, they took off to the right. While he waited for a second set of footsteps, Felix checked his shoulder. The fabric of his SFT showed a thin scorch mark and the skin beneath was numb. He'd been lucky. He waited another minute before easing back out into the hall. There, he retraced his steps to the main concourse and blended with the crowd. A short while later he used the code again to access the corridors that threaded behind the research sector.

He tapped his bracelet. "Eli?"

" There you are ." The immediate answer soothed a good number of his fears.

"Here I am. Where's Zed?"

" Right next to me, charming the Anatolius lead scientist ."

Despite the blood still hammering through his veins, Felix found a smile for that. He'd bet the scientist had nicely proportioned assets, and that she was curled right around Zed's little finger. Maybe he should have sent Zed to charm the AEF soldier instead of taking a run through the station.

A ping caused his bracelet to vibrate gently. Felix activated his map and checked the location. "I'm close. I'll come meet you."

The lead scientist was a man, and he was wrapped firmly around Zed's little finger. Felix swallowed his immediate reaction. Now really wasn't the time.

"Welcome back," Nessa murmured as he joined the group.

He hovered at the rear, near Emma, who had her hair hanging loose around her face. Not the best disguise, but enough to ensure no one looked at her twice. All the scientists in the labs were probably too caught up in their work to bother with mundane shit like watching the news, anyway.

An anticlimactic seven minutes later, the scientist keyed open a door and ushered them out onto the docks. "Here you are, Mr. Anatolius."

Zed rewarded the guy with a smile that affected Felix as much as the scientist. "Thank you, Dr. Macario. I'll be sure to pass along your observations to my brother Maddox."

Yeah, right. If Zed didn't want to talk with Brennan, he wasn't likely to call up his geeky middle brother to chat, either. But it was all a part of the illusion.

Emma bumped his shoulder. A sideways glance showed her lips quirked into something like a smile. Felix felt the flush of his cheeks deepen. Her laugh was dry and strained—it had obviously been a while. Felix bared his teeth at her. Emma returned a proper smile. The warmth beneath his cheeks flowed inward—that flash of a smile was so damned familiar and so damned sad. It reminded him of days past, well past. Of being young and so stupidly careless. It also made him feel like the selfish ass he knew he was.

How long had it been since Emma had found something to laugh at?

What about Zed?

Sadness, regret and love—for his friends, all of them—formed an uncomfortable knot in his chest. Nudging the mix of emotions aside, he scanned the dock and found they were standing right outside Alpha Two. He turned to Zed. "You didn't even have to check your map once, did you?"

Zed's smile had a tired edge to it. "Nope." He leaned in, lips almost caressing Felix's ear. "They'll be changing the access code within the hour."

"I didn't steal anything."

"I know, but you thought about it, didn't you?"

Felix elbowed him in the side. "Some things never change, do they?"

Zed shook his head slowly and Felix was glad he left his answer there.