Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,55

they fraxx up and hit us with one of those bolts, we’ll never even feel it.” Vic said.

“I’m not going to shoot you.” Blade stated, sounding vaguely insulted.

Two heartbeats later, a plasma bolt streaked past just over their heads. “Oops,” Blade said a half-second after that.

“Asshole,” Ward muttered. He knew there wasn’t any real risk of getting taken out by friendly fire. He’d reviewed the calculations himself. Twice.

They dropped below the plane of the firefight and soared across the open space, as he did his best to stay focused on the fast-approaching hull of the ship. The plan was to skim beneath the ship’s belly and gain access through the shuttle hangar on the far side. Chance had predicted it would have the outer doors open in preparation for an emergency evac using the shuttle docked there. She’d also told them the ship was likely called the Enigma and sure enough that was the name emblazoned on her hull. The Enigma 4. He had no idea how she could have known that, but now he had confirmation he was confident she’d nailed the rest of her projections, too.

They passed so close to the other ship he could have reached out and touched her hull. Not that it would be a good idea. Out here in the void, any contact he made would alter his trajectory, and they’d need most of the nitrogen propellant their suits used to change direction and reach their target. If they ran out before they killed their momentum, they’d fly right past the ship and out into space with no way back. The thought of dying didn’t bother him, but taking his last breath out here, alone in the dark was not the way he wanted to go.

“Turn and burn coming up,” Vic said.

Ward checked his own instruments, confirmed, and tried not to tense up as the seconds ticked away. He hated this next part. They activated their suits’ prepared program at the same time, and the onboard computer took over, sending out a jet of nitrogen gas to slow them, before setting off another series of carefully calculated thruster spurts that spun them one-hundred-eighty degrees so they could see the Enigma again.

The sudden deceleration was unpleasant, and the spinning made him nauseous, but at least it was over quickly. They sailed the last few meters to the other ship, and he managed to slap a magnetized glove onto the hull with Vic less than a meter above him.

“Low gravity was a lot more fun when we were naked and had Xori with us,” Vic grumbled.

Ward grinned. Not just at the memory, but because his brother had just made that comment over the main channel.

A chorus of laughter and groans filled his helmet and one of the triplets choked out, “That is more than we ever needed to know about your sex life.”

Ward ignored the noise and leaned over to get his first look at the shuttle bay. The doors were open, and he could see the heavy shimmer of a force field over the opening. It was designed to allow shuttles to come and go without losing the atmosphere. He couldn’t make out much except that there was definitely a shuttle present, and the area was bathed in the strobing red light of an alert. He hoped whoever was onboard was focused on the Faerie Queene’s attack and hadn’t spotted them making the crossing. If there was an ambush waiting inside, this was going to be a very short mission.

He unslung his rifle and pressed the butt of it against the energy shield. There was some resistance, but with a little more pressure, it passed through with no apparent harm.

He was about to tell Vic they were good to go when he felt it, a gossamer whisper of something that felt like Xori. It was gone a second later, but it left him with a sense of renewed urgency.

“She’s close,” Vic said over their private link.

“You felt it, too?”

“Yeah. I thought I did once before, too. But…”

Ward nodded. It was an ingrained habit that was useless since Vic couldn’t see the movement from their current positions. “Me too.” He’d thought he’d imagined it the last time, but now, he knew better. She was waiting for them somewhere close.

“We’ll have to ask her how she did that when we see her again.” Vic pulled a blaster from its holster, checked the readout, then signaled he was ready to go.

Ward shifted his body along the hull, getting