let her answer the question. “Kyon had Astrid. It was an even exchange.”
“Why didn’t you stop it?” Trey retorts, turning on Wayra in anger.
Wayra doesn’t back down. “I had my head beaten in too.” He points to the side of his head. His ear is cut up and looks as if it might have been sewn back on with knitting needles. “I didn’t find out about it until I came to, here in knob-knocking Amster!” He sneers, but it’s not directed at Trey. His taunting words are for the soldier near Astrid. One of them growls and makes a move toward Wayra. Astrid stays the soldier with a gesture of her hand. Wayra’s lip curls in contempt. He wants a fight. He’s begging for one.
“We can fix your scars,” Astrid says to Wayra.
He rounds on her. “Why would I let you do that? You’re a blood traitor! You gave up your own sister!”
Astrid becomes emotional as well. “I didn’t give her up! I was trying to save her!”
“Wayra,” Jax says behind him. “Let me give Trey an update on what we’ve learned.”
Jax moves around Wayra, getting closer to Astrid. He gives my sister a brief nod, saying, “If I may?”
Astrid responds immediately with a smile to his innate kindness. Jax has that effect on almost everyone. “Of course,” she replies, raising her hand to usher him nearer to Trey.
“Sir,” Jax says, facing Trey, “we were just down in one of the ops rooms. They have positive confirmation that Kricket is alive. She’s on a small island in the Sea of Stars.”
“Is she okay?” Trey asks.
“She’s well, by all accounts.”
“When is her extraction?” Trey asks. “I want all the details.”
Jax hesitates, and then says, “There’s no extraction, sir.”
“Why not? Is it still in the planning stages?”
“Negative. She’s embedded.”
“Embedded? Kricket is spying?”
“No,” Jax says, grimacing. “I wouldn’t term it quite that way.”
“Explain,” Trey growls.
“She started off as a ransom, an exchange given for Astrid, who was caught and held by Strikers near the Isle of Skye. New Amster has no intention of rescuing Kricket, though. A plan was formulated early on, but it’s been scrapped.”
“Why?”
“Kricket is shaping up to be something of a distraction to the Alameeda—something for them to fight over. If she can provide information to New Amster then that’s a bonus, but given her intelligence, they’ve found that simply inserting her in the fray has sent the Brotherhood into chaos mode . . . and New Amster is rather enjoying it.”
“Why would they use her like that?”
Jax glances at Astrid before looking back at Trey. “If the Brotherhood is fixated on Kricket, they aren’t looking anywhere else. New Amster is a rebel base. They plan to fight the Alameeda and all its allies.”
Whatever Jax is saying gets through to Trey and it acts as a tolling bell to a sleeping giant. Trey turns away from Jax and grasps the tabletop by his bedside, hunching over it. He lifts it up and bashes it against the floor a couple of times before he throws it clear across the room. The soldiers near the door duck out of its way. It crashes into the wall, splintering into a thousand pieces. He rounds on the other New Amster soldiers, the closest being Raspin.
Jax catches him before he can attack Raspin. “Wayra,” Jax says imploringly, “a little help?”
“Why?” Wayra retorts, but he grips Trey’s shoulders anyway. “We should kill all these wackers!”
Jax grunts, not faring well against Trey, even in his weakened state. “Because then . . . we leave her alone in a fight she can’t possibly win!” he snarls.
Wayra and Jax struggle to keep Trey away from Raspin, until Wayra forces Trey back against the wall. “Brother,” Wayra pants, “we’ve got this.” He looks into Trey’s eyes as if they’re the only two here.
“She’s all alone, Wayra.” Trey’s voice sounds sinister.
“So we do what we do. We find her on our own and we get her back.” Releasing his arms, Wayra grasps Trey by the shoulder and he hugs him to him, saying, “Baw-da-baw, Trey.”
Trey’s hand clenches, but his arm around Wayra’s shoulder hugs him back. “Baw-da-baw,” Trey replies as he stares coldly at Astrid over Wayra’s shoulder.
I can’t stay any longer. An ice-water wind blows mercilessly through me. The pull on me to return to my body is undefeatable, and it has me fading into the darkness like a colorless star. I give in to it and snap backward faster than a Jetstream to return to my body.