intelligent, patient predator lurking beneath the surface.
I vowed not to make that mistake.
“You have an interesting way of showing you care,” Ian said. Even knowing what he was up to, it was good that he was currently on the ground or I might be tempted to throttle him.
“You don’t have to track me. You can keep looking for Ferdinand while I do the same.”
“You think Lord von Hasenberg is just going to let you gallivant across the universe when it’s being implied that you’re a traitor? You don’t know your father very well.”
Actually, I knew Albrecht von Hasenberg better than nearly anyone. He’d want to keep me close to save face, sure, but also because he knew I was the best intelligence officer in the House. He didn’t know about my network, but he knew that I could find information no one else could, an invaluable skill to a House with secrets to hide and arms to twist.
And also because he knew I had a trove of information that would likely cripple the Consortium if it got out—which it would if I died and couldn’t reset the auto-release timer.
“Just because you tell Father you’re searching for me doesn’t mean you have to actually search for me. I’m tracking down a lead on Ferdinand. Once I find my brother, I’ll return.”
“Bianca, I can’t protect you if you run,” he said, his expression taut and urgent. “Return and give me the lead. We’ll find Ferdinand faster if we work together.”
“I can take care of myself, and I refuse to be a prisoner in my own house. Instead of hunting me, you should figure out why someone would want to frame me as a traitor. Perhaps they have useful information.”
“I already have a team on it. I don’t need you to tell me how to run an investigation,” he said stiffly.
I almost slipped up and let him know that his heavy-handed raid had scattered one of the best sources of information in HIVE. I clamped my lips on the words at the last second. He didn’t know I was Fenix and I preferred keeping it that way.
“In that case, it seems we’re at an impasse. If you agree not to search for me, I’ll send you any information I find that I won’t have time to investigate.”
“Albrecht has already demanded your capture. It’s the same priority as the search for Ferdinand. I don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” I murmured.
“Not this time.” His voice was flinty.
“I am not returning until I find Ferdinand, so if you want to find me, find him.” With that, I ended the connection.
My head pulsed in time with my heart and my blood pressure felt dangerously high. Of all the frustrating men in the world, I had to have Ian Bishop dogging my steps. I groaned. If I’d learned anything during Ada’s time on the run, it was that Ian never gave up. Maybe I’d get lucky and he’d send a team after me, rather than coming himself. And maybe pigs would fly.
At least I wouldn’t have to worry about the RCDF. Neither Father nor Ian would want to air our dirty laundry in front of the enforcers of the Consortium. House von Hasenberg would handle my retrieval on its own, which meant that I’d escaped, for now, because the House didn’t have anything in orbit capable of capturing Aurora.
I headed upstairs to the flight deck. Aurora was a relatively small ship with just four levels. The flight deck, captain’s quarters, and guest suite were on the top level. Because it was my personal ship, I’d reconfigured the standard layout. Instead of crew quarters, level two held the mess hall and medbay. The crew quarters were moved to level three, and level four included the exercise room and maintenance access.
The cargo bay was at the aft of the ship and spanned two stories from level four up to level three. Right now, it was nearly empty. The ship was kept stocked with essentials, but I’d need supplies if I planned to track down Ferdinand.
And I knew just who to contact for the kind of supplies I needed.
When my sister Ada had been banished from Earth, she relocated to Sedition on Alpha Phoenicis Dwarf Zero. APD Zero was a planet-wide black market, and Sedition was its largest city. It was also the first place Ian would look for me, so I couldn’t go there directly.
But Ada was also friends with Rhys Sebastian, a well-known smuggler, and Veronica Karim,