Forged (Star Breed #10) - Elin Wyn Page 0,50

technicians appeared, took the chip, and scurried away. The technician reported back quickly. “Sir, the files are encrypted.”

Uncle’s hand moved from my chin and rested lightly around my throat.

“Encrypted? Can you break it?”

“Of course,” the hasty reply came. “It just may take us some time.”

Hakon growled softly, but loud enough to be heard across the room, as Uncle Ran’s fingers tightened.

Then he jerked away.

Dizzy with shock, my hands flew to my throat, the ghostly feel of his fingers lingering.

“Well, niece, perhaps your surprise isn’t what we’ve been looking for after all.”

“But I’m sure it is,” I said, panicked and confused. “Those were the files buried the deepest in their system, covered with the most security and false trails. Whatever the secret of Station 112, it’s got to be in there!”

Instantly, Luca was at my side.

“Uncle, you know that Yasmin is loyal. Everything she has done is for the company.”

The anger that had twisted my uncle’s face into an unrecognizable mask smoothed away at my brother’s words.

“Of course,” he said. “You’ve always been good children, both of you. Loyal. Reliable.”

He took a step towards me, and despite myself, I stepped back, the thin worm of doubt that had whittled at my mind in the shuttle forcing itself to the front.

That video hadn’t been faked.

And I had no idea what was going on.

I glanced around the room, to find Hakon corralled by one of Uncle Ran’s mercenaries.

The two stood face-to-face, equal in height and build, surprisingly evenly matched.

Except for the heavyweight blaster the mercenary carried.

“I’m alright,” I called to Hakon, years of practice at hiding any emotion cultivated in endless meetings becoming not just a business tactic, but a shocking matter of survival.

Blaster or no blaster, if he thought I’d been hurt…

My mind stumbled, just a bit.

Hurt by my uncle? That was ridiculous.

I straightened my back and shoved my fears to the back of my mind.

Or at least, tried to.

While Luca stood gravely at my side, Uncle Ran was all smiles now. “The thing is, you’d been gone for so long, no messages, no contact, no progress to report, I was starting to think you had defected.”

The bottom fell out of my stomach again. “Of course I haven’t,” I gasped. “I would never—”

With a wave, he cut me off. “While the data is being decrypted, there’s an easy way for you to show me that your loyalty hasn’t been swayed.” He looked over to where Hakon stood rigid, fists clenched. “By anyone.”

I swallowed, throat tight, tongue feeling like somehow it had swollen to three times its size, choking my words.

“Of course. Anything.” I forced my lips into some semblance of the smile I’d worn when the lift first opened.

Had it really been only minutes ago?

Could it really only take minutes to shatter my world again?

“You know I would do anything for you, for the family.”

“Then that will make this easy,” he answered.

From the pocket of his tunic, he pulled a small blaster.

I stared at it, transfixed, as if it were a venomous thing, strange to see in his hand.

“Well?” he bounced his hand slightly, pushing it towards me. “Take it!” he commanded.

My hands stayed still at my sides, paralyzed by his words.

“And do what?” I whispered.

“Kill one of them.” His finger waggled between Thalcorr and Hakon. “I don’t really care which.”

Thalcorr straightened up in shock. “I beg your pardon?” he snapped. “We are here as part of an official Imperial diplomatic envoy. An attack on us would be—”

One of the mercenaries struck Thalcorr across the face hard, and Hakon grabbed the ambassador before he hit the floor.

The big mercenary that had blocked Hakon’s path to me stepped aside, but he kept his blaster pointed at the two of them.

“The mouthy one or the silent one,” the man who had taken me in when my family was destroyed, who I thought of as a second father, shrugged. “Your choice.”

My head shook slowly, my mind somehow distant, remote from this horror.

“No.”

The sound was no more than a breath.

I repeated it, louder. “No. I’m not shooting anybody.”

“Well then, I think my question is answered.”

Before I could register the meaning of his words, Ran turned and fired the blaster in one smooth movement.

Hakon leaped in front of the stream, shielding Thalcorr.

“No!” I screamed, struggling to cross the room, but Ran’s guards held my arms tightly.

“Put her in quarters where I can get to her later, once we see what she’s brought to us.”

“What do you want done with those two,” the guard nodded towards the corner