needed time to scrub the ship’s registration to leave a false trail, especially before we landed on APD Zero.
While we waited, I kicked off a full system diagnostics test. It might reveal some of the trackers Richard was no doubt using. I also pulled out my com and searched for bugs the old-fashioned way. I found two: a location tracker and an audio bug. I’d have to go through the ship one room at a time if I intended to keep it.
I checked the captain’s quarters while waiting for the diagnostic results. The com didn’t find any bugs. I guess Richard valued his privacy.
The diagnostic came back with a few questionable items. None were critical, so I disabled them all until I could dig deeper into their functions. A chime announced the gate had given us a location. Five minutes until the FTL drive was ready.
I dozed until the jump woke me. I checked our location and surroundings. We were exactly where I’d requested. I rubbed my eyes and got to work on the first registration change.
By the time we landed in Sedition, the largest city on APD Zero, Infineon had been renamed and reregistered twice. Now named Polaris, it was registered to one of the many dummy corporations I owned. It wouldn’t pass a deep dive, but no one was likely to look that closely. And because it was supposedly a merc ship, the name wasn’t written on the outside. Bonus.
The name changes would make tracking us a little more difficult, but I doubted they would slow Richard that much. Much more interestingly, each FTL jump actually had required just one hour of downtime, even with two jumps back-to-back. That would require looking into, but not tonight. I just didn’t have the mental capacity to dive into an unknown engine system tonight.
I locked the ship down tight. In Universal Time it was morning and I’d been up all night. On APD Zero it was just after eleven at night, so no one would expect us to leave the ship tonight. I’d already paid the docking fee for a week. Now I needed at least a few hours of sleep or I was going to fall on my face at the first opportunity.
I stumbled toward the captain’s quarters with a jaw-cracking yawn. I closed and locked the door. I didn’t really think anyone on the ship would attempt to take me out, but you never know how a scared mother will react to a situation where her kid could be at risk.
I continued through the sitting room into the bedroom, only to stop in the doorway. Marcus Loch lay sprawled across my bed, wearing only black boxer briefs and barely covered by the sheet. He hadn’t been here earlier when I checked for bugs.
My eyes were gritty with lack of sleep. I was entirely too tired to deal with this shit. The urge to kick him out was nearly overwhelming, but he was injured. I sighed softly. The sofa would have to do for tonight because I didn’t think I could make it downstairs to a crew bed.
“Come on,” Loch said. “The bed is big enough to share. Sleeping only.” His teeth flashed white in the dark. “Unless you have other ideas.”
I entered the room. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to talk to you, but you were so deep in whatever you were doing you didn’t even notice me enter the flight deck. So I waited here. Then when you still didn’t show, I decided if I was here anyway, I should sleep. Doctor’s orders.”
“We already said all that needed to be said.”
“No, we didn’t,” Loch said quietly. “But that is a discussion for later. Get in bed before you fall down. If you want, I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
Spite and hurt almost had me blurting the demand. Only the memory of the livid bruises stilled my tongue. “No funny business,” I said.
I stripped down to my T-shirt and underwear, put my smart glasses on the nightstand, then crawled into bed. Loch hauled me close when I would’ve hugged my edge. I protested and tried to wiggle away. “Just sleep, Ada,” he murmured against the back of my neck. “I’ve got you.”
I focused on relaxing each muscle, one at a time. I had only made it halfway before the warmth and security of Loch’s body at my back lulled me into sleep.
Chapter 14
I awoke with the pleasant stiffness that meant I had slept deep and long. I had forgotten to