Claimed by Cipher - Lolita Lopez Page 0,79

them to the Mercy in less than fifteen minutes.

“Report?” Raze asked, standing between the two benches where the team sat and holding onto an overhead cargo loop to steady himself.

“Security guard reported he was making his final rounds before the end of his shift. He found two medics and a doc down.”

“Which doc?” Raze asked, gripping a second loop as the ship veered to the left.

“Reckless,” Threat answered.

Cipher shared a look with Raze before turning his attention to Threat. “Are they alive?”

“Chance and Reckless are. Chance is in surgery with head trauma. Reckless is unconscious but stable. The other medic died on scene.”

“That’s a lot of damage for one suspect,” Flare commented as he checked his weapon.

“Unless it’s an operative,” Harm suggested. “Someone may have infiltrated the unit, took them out one at a time.”

“Yeah, but why the pulmonary unit?” Fierce adjusted his shoulder mic. “Was it specifically those men? Or were they just in the way?”

“The gas?” Cipher offered uncertainly. “Reckless is the expert, right? He runs the pulmonary unit. Maybe this is an attack on our readiness?”

That became their working theory as they set up their plan for assisting the security team with clearing each floor. When they docked, the head of security and the captain of the vessel liaised with Raze while Cipher set up at the security station. While his teammates fanned out with the security team and a support group that had come in from the Arctis, he took control of the elevators, doors and cargo loading areas and started scanning the security footage for any glimpses of the perpetrator.

As he listened to his team clear the hospital ship room by room and floor by floor, he guided their movements and controlled the flow of patients and staff sheltering in place. He called in the Mercy’s head tech for the security system and had him run the doors and elevators so he could take a better look at the footage.

“Anything?” Raze asked as he returned to the security station almost an hour later. “Our guys have nearly cleared the whole ship.”

“There’s nothing here.” Cipher blew out an irritated breath. “Whoever attacked those three men is a ghost. There’s no one going in or out of the unit after us.”

“Us?”

“Brook and I,” he clarified, rolling back the footage to the two of them leaving. “There’s nothing after us until the security guard does his round.”

“What about before?”

“Before what?”

“Before you left,” Raze explained. “Maybe someone snuck in when the unit was unlocked to let Brook inside?”

Cipher wound the footage all the way back to five minutes before they arrived in the waiting area. He moved it forward slowly until Brook entered the unit. Again, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Do we have any eyes on the treatment areas?”

Cipher shook his head. “Only the hallways.”

“Uh, sir, that’s not exactly true,” the security tech interjected. “Reckless had us put in a set of cameras near the tube. He likes to watch the footage of his treatments.”

“That’s against the security regulations,” Cipher reminded the tech. “Patients are supposed to have privacy unless they specifically sign a waiver allowing their procedures to be recorded.” Scowling, he added, “I know I didn’t give permission for my mate to be recorded.”

The tech shrunk back in his chair. “I’m sorry, sir, but Reckless can be...” He made a face. “Well, he knows how to make things painful if you disobey him.”

“Painful?” Raze repeated. “How?”

“He has a lot of pull on this ship. He’s one of the highest ranked officers. If you cross him, you’ll regret it.”

“Show me the recordings,” Cipher ordered.

The tech leaned over and tapped in a code that opened a hidden file of recordings. Cipher selected the one for that day and let it play. He ran through most of the footage, scrolling quickly with his finger until he saw Brook and Chance. A volume mixer in the lower corner caught his eye. In disbelief, he asked, “This has audio?”

The tech nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Cipher couldn’t believe how many rules they were breaking on this ship. Nevertheless, he turned up the volume so they could hear what was happening in the chamber with his mate. When she went into the changing room, he narrowed his eyes at the tech. “If there’s a camera in there, I swear I—"

“No, sir! There are no cameras in there!”

Relieved that at least Brook hadn’t been recorded naked, he watched as she reappeared in the too big gown and surgical cap. His hackles raised the moment Reckless