he had X-ray vision, I wasn’t going to worry about the lab attachment too much.
I’d destroyed the test tubes of my blood, flushing the contents and boiling the labels into oblivion before trashing the empty containers via the compactor. That evidence was gone, and I hadn’t found any other hidden compartments with more samples. Just like Big Guy had said, that was it. With any luck, that was it in the entire galaxy, apart from what was pulsing through my veins.
Once I’d eliminated the samples, I’d sealed up the air lock leading to the attachment. Only I knew the pass code. No one was getting into that lab but me, and even I didn’t want to go back.
Shade eventually reached the gash in the hull at the level of my bedroom, which was pretty barren and torn up. There, he could see straight in, and he ducked down for a better look.
Even with Albion City starting to buzz and hum far below, I heard him mutter something about major repairs as he ran his fingers along the blackened edges of the hole.
A sinking feeling dropped through me. Whatever Shade did was going to cost me an arm and two legs. On top of that, we needed to resupply, and I had some unexpected shopping to do. Space had eaten nearly all my underwear. And plenty of clothes as well. I was too tall to share with Miko, Shiori, or Fiona, and I swam in Jax’s things. I had no choice but to buy new outfits if I wanted to blend into civilian settings, like here on Albion 5, or anywhere we might go for whatever jobs came next.
Shade’s entire upper body disappeared into my bedroom. He looked like he was about to crawl in.
“Morning!” I called out, not really comfortable with him inspecting my unmade bed.
He ducked back out of the damaged ship, straightening as he looked over. Sunglasses masked his expression and reflected my own image back at me.
Squatting low, I braced one hand against the Endeavor’s floor and vaulted down onto the landing dock about four feet below. It was always a bit of a scramble getting back up again, but letting down the ship’s stairs was an unnecessary use of power as far as I was concerned, especially while we were recharging.
“I thought you needed a few days to get the reinforced metal,” I said, moving toward the man who had occupied far too many of my thoughts since the previous afternoon.
“I had two tiles in stock.” Shade turned away from me, resuming his careful perusal of the Endeavor. After a long silence, he added, “Figured I’d get to work while I waited for more to come in from my supplier.”
I nodded, although he wasn’t looking. He seemed to have an expert eye and was wholly concentrated on the ship.
I thanked him anyway, and he grunted something in response, poking his head into another hole.
I watched him, and Shade ignored me. He was distant to the point of making me wonder if I’d imagined the flirting yesterday. Had the warmth and interest all been in my imagination? It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d dreamed up something false. Today, his flat expression behind dark glasses wasn’t telling me much. Or maybe he just wasn’t a morning person, which made me wonder why the hell he’d shown up so close to the crack of dawn.
“We never talked about payment,” I pointed out when he emerged from the damaged hull once more. After he’d added up materials and labor, I hated to think of the total cost.
“The metal is twelve hundred per tile, and you’ll need nine, not eight.”
“Twelve hundred!” My jaw practically hit my chest. “It’s only eight fifty on Rhylight!”
He turned to me, finally taking off those reflective shades and slipping them into his back pocket. His honey-brown eyes looked dark. “You’re not on Rhylight, starshine.”
I took a step toward him. “Don’t ‘starshine’ me, you crook. I won’t pay a single unit over one thousand in universal currency.”
Watching me, he seemed to think about it, his big hands resting on his hips. He apparently liked that pose. I could see why. It made him look even wider and showed off his menacing knuckles.
“Factor in five hundred a day for labor,” he finally said, “and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
I breathed through the panic of my rapidly depleting funds and did the math in my head. I had that much. There would be next to nothing left