covering her eyes with one hand as she peered at the camera. “Knox?”
“Hey, Luna. Are you all right?”
“Typical Thursday night.” She bared her teeth. “A few more armed men than usual. You?”
He added mercenaries to his mental list of things to worry about. “The typical number of armed men, more or less. We’re coming to get you—”
“No.”
“We’re coming to get you,” he repeated firmly. “Conall needs you, Luna. And if you think anything could stop Rafe…”
She grimaced, but didn’t argue. “Whatever they want, I’ll repay you, Knox. I swear.”
“I know you will—”
The screen plunged into darkness before he could finish, leaving her final words roiling through him. Her life alone would be worth sacrificing for. And Luna would save Conall. She’d save all of them.
She wouldn’t be the one who owed a debt at the end of all of this.
Relay your GPS coordinates immediately.
The words flashed onto the screen. Still unsettled, Knox flipped to another tab to copy their location, then sent the information to the kidnapper. As soon as it had transmitted, the connection terminated.
Knox folded the tablet. He disassembled the satellite equipment, focusing on the minutiae of the activity to steady himself. The way the pieces of the cylindrical tube clicked together as he slid them back into place. The smooth texture of the parabolic dish as he rolled it tight enough to fit into its case. The warmth of the solar battery against his thigh after he slipped it into his pocket.
Maybe he could break every part of this mission down into pieces so small, he wouldn’t have to think about the whole they formed. A mindless, efficient task list. Assemble. Disassemble. Drive. Walk. Eat. Sleep. Lie.
Betray.
No, Knox had always survived by being able to focus on the bigger picture as well as the details. There was no switching off his brain. No comfortable, unthinking complicity. He would always end up back here, fighting to convince himself he was okay with what he was doing. That it was worth it.
It wasn’t. But he was going to do it anyway. That was the truth he needed to embrace.
He thought his mood couldn’t get any fouler. But when he got back inside, a muffled boom rattled down the darkened hallway. He followed the sound to a theater with the door propped open and Gray standing just inside.
And a movie playing on the screen.
“How the hell did this happen?” Knox demanded as a spaceship zipped across the massive screen with a roar that echoed out of half the speakers with only a mild crackle.
“Conall and Maya got one of the old projectors running.” The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Damn thing must have been too heavy to steal.”
God knew scavengers had stripped away everything else. A few dozen reclining chairs were strewn across the risers that formed the floor of the theater, but the empty space showed there must have been five times as many to begin with. Bits of fabric clung to the wall, but most of it had been torn down. Even the carpet in front of the screen had been cut up in places.
Conall was perched halfway up the risers with Maya. The light from the screen illuminated their faces, both alight with pure enjoyment as the fictional space battle played out before them. Even Rafe, stretched out on Conall’s other side with a rifle across his lap, seemed to be enjoying himself.
Nina and Dani were huddled on the opposite side of the theater, a mirror to Knox and Gray, though maybe it was his own guilt that painted their expressions as wary. “I don’t know if spending time with them is a good idea,” he murmured.
“Oh, it’s terrible. Really fucking stupid.”
It was. He thought he’d have more time before his crew’s commitment to their present mission began to waver, but Maya was a grenade tossed into their precarious situation. She was young and guarded enough to provoke Rafe’s incurable big-brother instincts, and brilliant and mechanically inclined enough to win Conall’s rarely proffered respect.
Desire would have been easy. Well—not easy. One glimpse at Nina and the inevitable crackle of electricity under Knox’s skin was enough to disprove that.
But desire was manageable.
Friendship? That would get them all killed.
“Nina asked me to find you, by the way. She suggested we all fend for ourselves for dinner.” Gray shook his head. “What happened last night?”
Knox forced his gaze away from the woman in question. “I was an asshole. Because I’m not stupid.”