lifted his shoulders. “I told you, I'm not top of the chain. I'll tell them what you've said, and I'll leave their answer where you stopped my lander. But if you have the one who got away, that would certainly facilitate your welcome.”
Craven gave a slow nod. “Stopping at the same place we put the stones across the road is a good place to leave a message. Someone will be watching.”
The driver's mouth tightened.
Hana couldn't blame him. Craven was not-so-subtly letting him know that the route in and out of the camp was being watched, and that if things turned sour, there could be more ambushes.
He gave a sharp nod, and then took her pack.
“Can you walk?”
Hana pushed herself slowly to her feet and tried to put a little weight on her foot. She sucked in a breath. “Is there something I can use as a walking stick?”
Lia turned and disappeared into the bushes, came back with a short stick that was better than nothing. Hana took it with a murmur of thanks.
“We'll be seeing you soon,” Craven said. There was a hint of amusement in his voice, as if he was aware that he'd played a strong hand against the driver.
“Looking forward to it.” The driver's smile was as fake as his jocular tone.
He indicated that she go first, and Hana gave a nod, took one last look at the smugglers standing in a semi-circle around them, and then limped away.
She hoped that Iver had been close enough to hear what had been said.
She was about to find out about the camp first hand.
Chapter 17
"Sit up front." The driver, who'd introduced himself as Fraen, opened the passenger door, and Hana clambered up awkwardly, hauling herself into the seat using her arms.
She kept the stick Lia had given her tucked against her side. Fraen said nothing about it, and she wondered if he understood it could be a weapon.
Maybe he did, because he clamped restraints on her.
Unfortunately for him, they were standard VSC restraints with electronic locks.
She settled in, trying to work out what her plan of escape would be.
She couldn't walk right now, not on her foot in its current state, but she didn't need to if she took the lander by force.
The driver closed her door and then moved around the front of the vehicle. He looked angry, and she understood why when he lifted a large rock and tossed it to the side. He kicked out a few times at smaller rocks also in the way, and finally got into the driver's seat.
He was breathing hard, and there was a sheen of sweat on his face.
"Those fuckers will pay for this." He started up the engine.
"They seemed to think they'd got one over on you," Hana said.
"Let them keep thinking that." With a sneer, Fraen maneuvered the lander around the last remaining rocks and then picked up a bit of speed.
"You're not worried they'll follow you to wherever you're going?"
He gave her a quick look, mouth open as if to say something, and then shut it with a snap.
Interesting.
The smugglers who'd stopped him were definitely deeply embedded in this part of the Spikes. Their clothing and general state of dishevelment told a story of living rough for a while, but however well they were ensconced in this valley, they hadn't found the camp.
And they had clearly been looking.
Which meant it was extremely difficult to find.
“Do you think they ambushed you to steal your supplies?” she asked. It occurred to her that that might have been the real reason for the ambush. “They look like they're living pretty close to the bone.”
With a low, vicious curse, Fraen smacked the steering wheel, then checked the dash display.
They had left the smugglers behind, and there didn't seem to be anyone around.
He braked, hard, and jumped out, disappearing around the back. Hana heard the rear doors open.
She leaned over to the display. Touched it to see if she could short it out.
Her upgrade had been working on her foot, but the further they'd driven from the ambush spot, the more sluggish the repairs had felt.
The magfield was strong here.
As it was through most of the Spikes.
Her runner had come down here during the war, had crashed, because of exactly this reason.
This was not a place that was kind to tech of any kind and she had long believed her upgrade to be tech of the most sophisticated kind imaginable.
It was struggling.
She felt a surge in her fingertips, but while the screen