the cabinet where he stowed his gear and began strapping it on over his uniform. “You’ll be safe here.”
“I’m not worried about me,” she insisted, getting out of bed to join him at the cabinet. “I’m worried about you.”
“Baby, I’ve been doing this forever.” He snatched his helmet up and then his gear bag. “I’ll be fine.”
If she wanted to make him promise he would come back, she fought the urge. Instead, she rose on tiptoes and sought his mouth. “Be careful.”
“I will.” He gave her bottom a little pat. “Get back in bed. Rest. I’ll be back later.”
“Should I cook dinner?”
“Absolutely not,” he said, brushing his mouth against hers. “You are to stay in that bed or on the couch until I get home.”
“I will.” She followed his instructions and got back into bed as he rushed from the bedroom to the living area to silence the comm unit.
Hating to leave her, he left their quarters and ran into Raze at the elevator. The boss was still pulling on his boots and looked as if the call had interrupted a session of afternoon delight. Confirming Cipher’s suspicion was the unmistakable smudge of deep red lipstick on Raze’s neck. “Boss?”
“Yeah?” Raze hopped into the elevator on one foot while zipping up the boot on the other.
“You got a little something...” Cipher gestured to his own neck.
“Shit.” Raze laughed and wiped at his skin. “I’m such a sucker for Ella in lipstick.” The boss gave him a once-over as the elevator started to descend. “You look entirely too well put together for a man who is supposed to be on his honeymoon.”
“Brook had her first tube session today,” he explained while strapping his wrist tablet into place. “We were napping when the call came.”
“Is she okay alone? You can go back to her, Ci. I’ll pull someone from another backup team.”
Cipher shook his head. “She’s resting—and you don’t have anyone else to pull. Venom’s team is on the Dauntless and Gamma is supporting a mission in The City.” He flashed his wrist tablet to show the location of their other teams. “It’s me or you’re a man short.”
“We have our recruits. Some of them are ready for live action.” He jammed his earpiece in place and tapped his throat mic. “Threat, what’s the situation?”
Cipher slipped his earpiece in place in time to hear Threat say, “…an attack on the Mercy. Three men down. Suspect at large. They’re on lockdown.”
“Do we have a dart available?”
“Blaze is holding at missions departure. Ship is fully loaded. It’s the backup prepared by G team before they left.”
“Alpha, SRU Leader,” Raze addressed their entire team. “Meet at missions departure deck. Will brief en route.” Clicking off the main channel, Raze glanced at him and asked, “Did you notice anything when you were over there?”
Cipher shook his head and tapped at the elevator control board to change their destination and override any stops. “It was quiet and as busy as it normally is.”
“They’ve got that psych unit over there, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe one of those patients got loose and…?” He made a stabbing gesture. “Happened before when I was fresh out of the academy. A couple of seriously unwell guys broke out of their locked unit and killed eleven people before they were apprehended.”
Tapping his radio, Cipher asked, “Threat, what’s the info on the victims? Any suspects?”
“Attack happened in the pulmonary unit,” Threat answered, breathing hard as if he were running. “Two medics went down.”
“Was Chance one of them?”
“Yeah, actually, he was.”
“What is it?” Raze asked as the elevator opened.
“Chance was Brook’s medic during her visit.” He fell into step beside Raze as they hurried toward the waiting ship. “He was her day medic while she was in the hospital, too. She’s friendly with him. This is going to upset her.”
“Going to upset his bride even more,” Raze muttered as they boarded the ship. “He’s got a girl coming from back home in a few weeks.”
Cipher winced. “Let’s hope his injury isn’t serious.”
Raze nodded and ducked into the cockpit to talk to Blaze. Cipher took his seat at the logistics station next to Threat and logged in to access the security feeds from the Mercy. When he reappeared, Raze did a head count on the team and then the ship was moving. Cipher braced himself on the console as the ship rocketed out of the launch bay, picking up incredible speed as it raced toward the Mercy. The darts were the fastest ships in the fleet and would get