Break Out - By Nina Croft Page 0,49
thought of eternity filled her with anticipation rather than dread.
She slipped the ring on her finger and grinned as she remembered Tannis’ farewell comment. Hopefully, it had at least been in part rhetorical.
And if she survived Tannis, there was ‘Jonny.’ She had an idea Jonny wasn’t going to turn out to be a big fan of the Collective either.
At the thought of Jonny, something stirred deep in her mind. Something that had been bothering her since Trakis One. Closing her eyes, she visualized the scene, and a light clicked on in her brain.
Shit.
She’d been so stupid. She had to get back, warn them.
Switching on the engine, she swung the shuttle around, and headed back to El Cazador.
. . .
The door slid open.
Rico stood exactly where she had left him, as though he’d been waiting for her. They stared at each other, neither moving.
After a minute, Skylar raised her left hand with the ring sparkling on her finger. “Eternity, huh? Sounds like a long time.”
“You scared?”
She considered the question. “Yes.”
“Me, too.”
“But I kind of like it.”
He slanted her a smile. “Me, too. But don’t worry; we’ll take it one day at a time.”
Eternity, one day at a time. It sounded good to her. She closed the space between them, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. His mouth opened over hers, his tongue filling her, starting the slow burn in her belly, and the docking bay vanished, the Collective and Jonny driven from her mind.
Behind them, someone cleared her throat, and Skylar went still. She peeked over Rico’s shoulder. Tannis stood in the open doorway.
“Shit,” Skylar murmured, “here comes trouble.”
She wriggled out of Rico’s arms, though he kept a tight grip on one hand. Leaning in close, he whispered in her ear. “You want me to protect you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Sweet of you to offer, but do I look like I need protecting?”
He stepped back, his gaze wandering slowly over her body. Her insides melted.
“Hell, no.”
For a moment, she forgot Tannis and swayed toward him. The soft scrape of a laser pistol being drawn stopped her. Skylar sighed. “Just one thing,” she said, “If she really looks like she’s going to shoot me, you might ask her not to. Nicely, of course.”
“I can do nice.”
“Good.” Skylar turned and watched as Tannis strolled across the docking bay toward them, the pistol held loosely at her side. She came to a halt a foot from Skylar.
“What are you doing back here?” she growled. “I thought I’d made my position clear—I see you, and I kill you.”
“And as I said, you can try.”
Skylar searched her face, but had no clue what Tannis was thinking, or whether she would shoot. She must know the blast wouldn’t kill Skylar. The Meridian treatment made her almost impervious to normal weapons, and she could repair any amount of damage.
But Skylar didn’t want it to come to a fight. She wanted to stay on El Cazador, and to do that she had to reach some sort of understanding with the captain. Also, the Collective would waste no time coming after Jonny; they could be out there right now, ready to pounce. She needed to find a way to defuse Tannis and quickly.
Curving her lips into the semblance of a sweet smile, she waggled her ring finger in Tannis’ face. “I had to come back—you see, Rico made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
The yellow eyes widened, the pupils narrowing to slits. “No freaking way.”
Raising her hand, Skylar held the ring close to her own face, and batted her lashes. “Look—it even matches my eyes.”
Tannis glanced from the ring, to Skylar, to Rico, back to the ring. “Excuse me, while I lose my lunch.”
Skylar bit back a laugh at the response. She nodded at the laser pistol. “So, are you going to use that thing?”
“Actually, after that bit of news, I might just use it to shoot myself.”
But she jammed the pistol back in the holster and turned away, running a hand through her short hair, and muttering under her breath. Skylar reckoned Tannis deserved a minute to come to terms with the news, but she was impatient to talk about Jonny and work out what they could do. Maybe she could contact the colonel and offer to send his prisoner back, but she suspected they had moved beyond that being a viable option.
For the first time, she noticed the rest of the crew had edged into the room and were watching avidly. Daisy caught her eye