mouth was suddenly dry. “To Titan X and the Martians?”
Tonlet’s laugh was loud and grated at Denver’s nerves. “What good would that do me? No. I meant, your surrender to me.”
Denver’s fight-or-flight urge was leaning heavily toward the latter. The question was, could they reach the Legacy before Tonlet caught up? He’d need OPAL to run the numbers, but his gut told him it’d be close. And that didn’t take into account their slower associates. “I wasn’t aware we were at war. I see no reason we’d surrender anything to you.”
Tonlet sat forward again, his grin now gone. “Let’s cut the shit, shall we?”
“Please.”
“I know what you and Laramie are. I’ve always known. And I’ve always let you slide by. I could have alerted the Martians at any time to the twins they thought failed out of their Pierro-Zabotel Experiment. I’m sure they would’ve been happy to swoop in and take you into custody. But see, that wouldn’t have served my purposes, either.”
Denver didn’t bother denying it. Tonlet had known them too long. As kids at the orphanage, he and Laramie hadn’t realized the danger in letting people see their gift. Marit had figured it out ages ago. And Spence…
Denver chanced a quick look his direction. Spence was watching him, his eyebrows up, his golden-flecked eyes unreadable.
“Denver,” Tonlet prompted.
Denver turned his attention back to Tonlet. He’d have to deal with the fallout of this conversation another time. “We know you’ve always wanted us on your crew,” Denver said.
“I figured sooner or later, you’d realize working for me would be better than working for the Martians. Better than a Martian prison, at any rate. And yet now, here you are, about to run off to some faraway planet on a ship that’s always been little more than legend. A ship that—if those legends are true—has faster-than-light capability.”
Denver’s mind raced. Was there any point in denying it?
“A ship,” Tonlet went on, “that will instantly make you and Laramie the wealthiest sons of bitches in the galaxy. And so you see, brother, why I can’t let that happen.”
Denver smiled, hoping his poker face was better than he thought. “I don’t see that there’s much you can do about it. We’re almost there. You, on the other hand, are still another few hundred K away.” It’d mean even less time to load up and get their asses in gear, but what could Tonlet do to them? His ship was fast, but it wasn’t weaponized, so far as Denver knew. And damaging the Legacy or letting it fall into Martian hands wouldn’t serve his interests, either. “So, as far as I’m concerned, the terms of our non-surrender have been settled.” He reached for the comm. “Have a nice day.”
“Not so fast, Denver.”
Denver gritted his teeth but resisted the urge to terminate the conversation. Tonlet would only hail them again, and again, and again. “What?”
“I didn’t want to have to do this, but since you’ve forced my hand.”
He turned to somebody off-screen and nodded. Denver braced himself, wondering if he was wrong in assuming the Zenith wasn’t weaponized. But nothing hit them. Instead, the mild but steady vibration of the metal floor beneath his feet went dead. The almost imperceptible hum of the engines ceased. A dozen lights flared to life on the cockpit console, flashing in alarm, and a beeping alert filled the cockpit.
“Shit!” Marit hit the button to silence the sound.
“Did he somehow kill our engine?” Spence asked.
Denver sighed. “It looks that way.”
“How?” Marit whispered toward Denver.
“I don’t know.”
Marit was already flipping switches, checking the control panel, seeing if she could restart the engine. Denver resisted the urge to push her aside and do it himself. It wouldn’t work. He knew that. Tonlet wouldn’t have played his hand if there’d been any chance of it failing.
Laramie’s voice filled Denver’s head.
Denver spoke through clenched teeth. “Tonlet.”
“Yes?” Tonlet said, his smug smile even more annoying than before.
“He’s here.”
This was a setback, but Denver tried to tell himself it wasn’t a big deal. All they had to do was transfer to one of the other ships. Tonlet couldn’t have sabotaged the others.
But it was as if the man knew what he was thinking. “I’ll be watching you, Denver. Don’t even think about trying to transfer your little party to one of the other ships. I’m playing nice with you, because of our shared history. But I have no qualms about playing dirty with the riffraff.”
Did that