Athena’s Ashes (Star Thief Chronicles #2)(19)
Author: Jamie Grey

“Damn straight it does.” Dallas’s image reappeared on screen. “But that’s a chance we have to take. Samil is too important to MYTH. And she’s the only one with the formula for Renna’s drugs. Retrieving her is our number one priority right now.”

Renna’s whole body twitched with unease, but he was right. And maybe with a little luck she could turn the trap around on Pallas.

Even better, maybe Major Larson would be there. Kicking his ass would totally make her day.

“What’s your plan?” Renna asked.

“Samil used code VANI in her message. That code is only used when there’s no other option. It means search and destroy. Scorched earth. Whatever it takes.”

She sucked in a breath. The doc’s bright eyes and warm smile flashed through her memory. Pallas had gone too far. This woman had done nothing but help Renna, and now she was going to die?

“Dr. Samil just signed her own death warrant? No. There has to be some way to get her out of there.”

“That’s what I’m counting on you for, Renna,” Dallas said, leaning closer to the screen. “And if Blake is right and there’s a traitor inside MYTH, the three of you are going to have to do it alone. Top secret. I’ll try to hold off the destroy order as long as I can, but you’re running out of time.” His voice quavered, and he glanced away from the camera. “The most I can give you is twelve hours. Please do whatever you can.”

Fear formed a lump in her throat, but Renna swallowed past it. “I’m the only girl for the job. I won’t let you down, Major.” She paused. “I’m going to need all the intel you have on that planet and any facilities near those coordinates.”

“I’ll get you anything you need, Renna. Just ask.”

She smiled at him. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

TWELVE

Renna sat at the small round table in her room, reading through the data Dallas had sent to her tablet. She took another sip of scorching coffee and held the liquid in her mouth for a fraction of a second—until her tongue started to burn—before swallowing. Sometime in the past few days, she’d started doing stuff like that, letting herself experience feelings she’d normally ignore. Like each time might be her last.

She shoved the coffee cup away, brown liquid sloshing onto the table.

Stop that.

But the haunting possibility was always there in the background. She might not make it through this. She’d thought that plenty of times before, when a job had gone tits up or she’d found herself faced with an angry merc, but she’d never really believed it.

Seeing that strange metallic reflection in her eyes had changed everything.

Even if she did find a way to stop the implant from completely taking over her body, it would still change everything. She’d be different in some very fundamental ways. How the hell did you deal with something like that?

Renna buried her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. She’d dealt with becoming a different person before. When she’d left the Izan tenements, she’d created a new persona, changed herself to survive. She could do it again.

But first she had to save Dr. Samil, and sitting here feeling sorry for herself wasn’t going to help. She straightened her shoulders. So. First order of business: rescue Dr. Samil and her team. Second: destroy Pallas. Third: find Finn and live happily ever after.

Totally doable.

And if she was lucky, she might be able to take care of step one and two at the same time. Obviously letting Samil get a message out to MYTH was a trap, but Renna had a few of her own tricks to play. If Pallas and Major Larson had kidnapped the med team, maybe she could take them both down.

She studied the dossier. New Angeles was the smallest planet in the Vorti system. Its only claim to fame was the small scientific community that had sprung up around a series of ancient ruins. The mystery of who’d built them and why sent thousands of archaeologists and university students there every year. Small towns had popped up near each site to provide support services, goods, and food. But the rest of the planet was wild and empty. The perfect place for a hideout.

According to the holomap, the surface terrain looked rocky, with low jagged hills and gray dirt. The biggest outpost was the Tholi spaceport, crouched in a valley between two large hills. It served as the central base for most of the excavation operations in the area and had a bustling warehouse district for storing food, supplies, and ships.

Renna typed in the coordinates Dr. Samil had given, and a glowing holomap of the city sprang to life over the table. She pinched her fingers together, zooming in on what appeared to be some sort of squat bunker with a rounded roof. She changed the angle, but her heart sank. She’d seen these before. One door. No windows. No other way in.

If this was where they were keeping the med team, she was completely screwed.

Renna threw her tablet down on the table and got to her feet. The frantic drumbeat in her head picked up strength as she paced her cabin. She’d only get one shot at this. But how could she break into an impenetrable building without getting the hostages killed instantly? Frontal attack was a no-go. They didn’t have a big enough team. And the clock was already ticking. The MYTH bombers could show up at any time.

Did she say screwed? More like completely and utterly f**ked.

Renna rubbed the back of her neck. Godsdammit. She hated working without a safety net or an escape plan. Especially with whatever was going on in her head. Things could go wrong in a freaking hurry if she wasn’t perfect. And if her implant chose the wrong moment to go haywire? She could get all of them killed.

Jayla’s voice came over the intercom, jerking her out of her thoughts. “Renna, ETA on Tholi is twenty-three minutes.”

Shit. She’d officially run out of time and ideas. Renna rubbed her sweating palms on her thighs.

Time for plan B: making it up as she went.

She slipped into a pair of tight leather pants and a black sweater and pulled on her knee-high boots. She strapped a holster around her shoulder and another around her waist before grabbing her leather military jacket from the chair where she’d dropped it earlier.

She paused, staring at her fingers curled around the smooth black leather.

She’d gotten it from MYTH when she’d first joined Finn’s team. The special coat, given only to MYTH agents, was made of reinforced leather that was bulletproof but moved like a dream.

And only a few people in the entire galaxy had access to one.

She smiled as the beginnings of plan formed in her mind.