Athena’s Ashes (Star Thief Chronicles #2)(37)
Author: Jamie Grey

Renna scanned the dirt-streaked dockworkers who were taking a break nearby. “Speak for yourself.” Her skin pricked with unease, and she shifted her weight from foot to foot, hand on the handle of her blaster. “I sent the order half an hour ago. I don’t like this.” At least Keva and the Athena had already left to take Aldani and Myka to the safe house. They’d be safe, no matter what happened here.

“Just a busy day.” Viktis yawned. “It’ll show up soon.”

Before she could complain again, the hum of an approaching speeder filled the air and Viktis raised his eyebrow in an I-told-you-so smirk.

Finn’s hand twitched near his holster, and Viktis pushed himself off the wall. He stayed relaxed, but the set of his shoulders told her he was still on guard.

The speeder pulled to a stop in front of them, and the driver’s door opened with a hiss. The driver grinned at them, his left front tooth missing. “Speeder as ordered. Bring it back by the end of the day or you’ll be charged double.”

“And you’ll be taking off an hour from our bill, since you’re late, right?” Renna asked.

“Not my fault. Traffic jam on the other side of town.” He slid from the car and headed toward the seedy bar at the end of the street. “Have a nice day.”

“Traffic jam, my ass,” she muttered, heading for the driver’s seat.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Viktis asked. “I’m the pilot here.”

Renna smirked. “You haven’t piloted a ship in five years. Besides, I already have the map of the city in my head. You know, crazy implant and all.”

Viktis’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t need an implant to help me find my way around. You know, my impeccable sense of direction and all.”

Both Finn and Renna burst out laughing. “You keep telling yourself that,” she said, climbing into the speeder.

Viktis huffed. “Fine. But I’m not sitting in back.”

They sped through the shit-hole of a town, passing slums and tenements on the way to the more wealthy part of the city. A thin layer of yellow sediment coated the buildings and streets, giving it an odd, dusty glow. Even the skin of the humans living there was tinged yellow.

Renna parked the speeder. When they got out, they approached Wall’s compound, a rambling set of buildings hidden behind a high steel wall. She eyed the barbed wire with a frown. The security measures seemed a bit excessive.

“You sure he’s waiting for us?” she asked, pressing the buzzer on the gate. There was no answer.

Viktis stared through the bars of the gate into the silent compound. “When I spoke with him on the holo earlier, he said he’d have a man on point to let us in. Try again.”

Renna leaned on the buzzer for a good thirty seconds before letting go. The shrill scream of the bell echoed through the courtyard, but there was no sign of movement. The skin between her shoulder blades prickled, and she unsnapped her holster. On either side of her, Finn and Viktis pulled out their blasters.

“I’m going to hack into the system,” she said, crouching in front of the lock. “Watch my back.”

The two men nodded, and Renna went to work on the gate. With a quick glance she could tell it was Rege Rail model—but this one was different.

“Schematics,” she ordered her implant. Her pulse jumped with excitement as the holo image of the lock appeared in her vision, the plans pulling apart to show her the various components.

When this implant thing worked like it was supposed to, it was amazing.

As her gaze switched between the real lock and the virtual one, her frown deepened. Wall had altered his lock in some way. This was going to take longer than she planned.

Renna pulled her tools out of the small case she carried on her belt and inserted a probe into one of the chip slots. There was a soft beep as her program ran through the system.

While she waited, she peered through the gate into the dirty courtyard. A long, low building sat directly in front, guarded by a thick wooden door. Two larger buildings flanked the main building, long and low. Warehouses, she’d guess.

A gust of wind blew down the street, bringing with it the arid scent of dust and smoke. Her hacking tool beeped again, and Renna glanced down. A few tweaks in the code and the gate clicked as it unlocked.

“We’re in,” she said, pocketing her tools and grabbing her blaster.

Finn readied his gun as he pushed open the gate. He took several tentative steps into the courtyard, sweeping the space for anything unusual. Viktis and Renna followed close behind.

“What the hell is going on?” Viktis muttered. “Where is everyone?”

“Wish I knew.” The prickling of her skin was getting worse by the second, and she forced herself to take a calming breath as she pointed to a thick metal door in the interior wall of the courtyard. “I think Wall’s lab is through here.”

It opened immediately, the heavy lock already disengaged. She glanced at Viktis, whose eyebrows had furrowed until they were almost touching.

He shook his head and shifted his blaster in his hand. “That door should have been locked. On your guard.”

Renna nodded and stared down the long, narrow corridor made from rugged stone. Her skin erupted into full-fledged goose bumps as the trio crept down the corridor. There were still no signs of life or movement from anywhere.

“Show heat signatures,” she ordered. Why did she keep speaking out loud? Her implant responded to thoughts as well as words now. Old habits die hard evidently.

“Anything?” Finn asked.

She shook her head as they moved farther down the corridor. At the far end she spotted another heavy door, this one slightly ajar. Finn pushed it open and Renna slipped past him into what looked like a kitchen.

Or, at least, it had been before someone had ransacked it. The cupboard doors had been ripped from their hinges and broken terracotta plates were smashed on the floor in piles of orange dust. Dry goods and food were scattered everywhere, leaving a trail of white powder and shattered eggs. She took a step farther into the room and grimaced as her feet squelched in some sort of slick cooking oil.

Renna clutched her gun tightly. Beside her, Viktis’s amber skin had turned pale, and the bone plates in his head quivered with anger.

What had happened here?

“Through there?” She pointed at the door across the room. Her hand shook as she pushed it open onto another long room.

“Gods,” Viktis whispered.

Electronics and machinery were smashed and scattered across the floor like someone had taken a sledge hammer to the entire contents of the room. Holovids and communicators were barely recognizable pieces dusting the floor. Electrical chips and shards of glass crunched under Renna’s boots as she approached the center of the space.