now have a chance of getting off this accursed station once and for all.
The wall display in our new hovel is nonfunctional, and Finian has his uniglass plugged into his exosuit, projecting a schematic of the Dominion Repository on the opposite wall in glowing light. I take a seat on the tiny couch beside Aurora, staring at the image. Her split brow is knitted closed by a small, flesh-colored suture; the bruise under her right eye is a dark constellation. Her lips are soft, bow-shaped, hypnotic to watch. She reaches out and touches my hand gently, her fingertips lighting fires across my skin.
“You okay?” she asks softly.
I give her my best attempt at a reassuring smile. “I am well.”
“Will you two get a room?” Tyler says.
“… What?” I scowl.
“I said there’s two ways into the room,” Tyler says, pointing to the schematic. “Main entrance to the south, and a smaller one on the west. Both are guarded, but the west has two fewer security goons. So, if trouble hits, that’s the way we leave.”
“But trouble won’t hit, right?” Scarlett says. “Because all your ideas are amazing?”
“Exactly,” Tyler says, ignoring his sister’s jab. “Now, according to the admiral’s coded message …”
Here Tyler pauses to offer Zila a small round of applause, which I and the rest of the squad join in on. Zila ducks her head, dark curls tumbling over her eyes. But I catch the ghost of a smile on her lips as Tyler continues.
“… there’s some kind of cache waiting for us in the security deposit room, past the main foyer. It’s apparently coded to accept Scar’s DNA ident. Not sure why Adams thought to set it up that way.”
Scarlett raises one brow. “Because I’m fabulous?”
“Yeah, that’s definitely it,” Tyler mutters, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, that means Scar will be taking point on this one. We have no idea what’s back there in terms of weight, so Kal, you’re going with her in case it’s heavy.”
Scarlett glances at me. “You and me, Muscles. Dress sexy.”
She winks at Aurora, and Aurora smirks back, squeezing my hand. Most of us have become accustomed to Scarlett’s insistence on flirting with anything with a heartbeat. But I notice Finian is staring at the floor, looking altogether glum.
“Fin, you wanna take them through the run?” Tyler asks.
Our Gearhead blinks in confusion. “Um … yeah, if you want?”
“Sorry.” Our Alpha hobbles toward a chair. “I just gotta sit for a minute.”
Scarlett watches her brother lower himself onto the moldy cushion beside her, one hand at his crotch. She winces in sympathetic agony.
“Poor baby,” she coos. “Madam Badass really did a number on the boys, huh?”
“I mean, I can always adopt,” he whimpers.
“If it makes you feel better, the black eye kinda suits you? The bloodshottiness really brings out the blue.”
Tyler shoots Scarlett a withering glance, and she grins and ruffles his mop of blond hair. He groans a protest and smooths his locks back into place, only to have them mussed again by his sister’s hand.
They are so different—he the epitome of order, she the personification of chaos—that I sometimes find it hard to think of them as siblings. But looking at the pair of them, I can see how dearly the Jones twins love each other. They are united in the grief they feel at Zero’s death. The uncertainty in which we find ourselves. Bonded in blood. A true family. Inseparable and unconquerable.
My own sister and I make a shameful comparison.
“I’ve got two black belts,” Tyler sighs. “Ten years training in Systema and Krav Maga. And she bounced me like a jetball.”
“Feel no shame,” I tell him. “Saedii is a master of the Aen Suun.”
Scarlett frowns as she translates. “The … Wave Way?”
I nod. “The deadliest of the Warbreed martial arts. Before he died, my father trained us personally. Since we were children.” Sorrow fills my heart at the memory of the three of us training beneath the lias trees. I give Tyler a sad smile. “Saedii has kicked me below the belt on more than one occasion. So you have my sympathies.”
“More than once?” Tyler winces and shifts again. “Maker’s breath, how are you still alive?”
“I did warn you not to let her get close.”
“It wasn’t by choice, believe me,” he groans. “If I have anything to say about it, the young lady in question will be kept at minimum safe distance from now on. A couple of star systems away oughta do it.”