Zenos lifted his thumb, and I saw a drop of blood on the tip. He rubbed the liquid on the surface of the medallion and set it back down on the table. “Cerberus codes all of his tech to artificial DNA that every member of his legion is required to carry.”
“What?”
Ivy scowled as she watched the medallion. “It’s crazy out here, Zara. And even worse on Rogue 5. Don’t ask.”
I didn’t want to, and even if I did, I doubted I would understand her answer. I had to work two jobs just to eat. I barely finished high school. DNA sounded like science to me, and that was so not my territory.
A pale light appeared along the edges of the medallion, and as one, we all four sank back down into our chairs to watch as the medallion opened up, the top sliding back and away into the sides like a collapsing accordion with metallic ridges.
Inside was a small clear crystal.
“What is that?” I asked.
Ivy reached for it, and Zenos waited, her much smaller fingers lifting the pea size crystal from a lined bed of some kind. “Data.”
Isaak frowned. “What’s on it? What could Bertok possibly send to Cerberus?”
Zenos crossed his arms and all traces of the teddy bear were long gone. In the corner, the Cerberus male had begun to move his legs. He was coming around, and I really didn’t want to be here when he woke up. “Can we go? That Cerberus guy is moving.”
Isaak rested a hand on my shoulder. “No one will harm you, gara. You have my word.”
Ivy glanced back over her shoulder, watched the moaning, groaning alien try to roll over, and turned back to face me. “Zara is right. We should get out of here. Even if he didn’t already alert Cerberus to your presence here, he will now.”
Zenos agreed. “We will take this data crystal back to Rogue 5 and find out what information it contains.”
Ivy looked at Isaak. “What about you? They’ll have every bounty hunter and scavenger out here looking for you. It won’t be safe. Won’t matter where you go.”
Isaak looked at me, our gazes locking and the look in his eyes dark. Intense. Impossible to read. “Zara and I will transport to my home on Trion. Bertok will not be expecting us. Zara has only been away from his side for two days. On Trion, that will be less than an hour. He will not even be looking. We will go to my home and wait to hear from you. Zara will be safe there.”
“Uhm-hmmm.” Ivy made the odd noise, and I tore my gaze from Isaak to look at her. She winked at me. “Not yours, Isaak. You sure about that?”
“Ivy!” I protested. No, Isaak was not mine. And he didn’t want to be mine. End of story.
She lifted her hands, stepped forward and gave me a hug. I squeezed back. Hard. “Welcome to space, Zara.”
“Thanks.”
She took Zenos’ hand like they were young lovers out for a Sunday stroll, walked out of the canteen while the Cerberus male was still incoherent. Isaak’s hand was in mine seconds later. “Let’s go, Zara. It’s time for me to go home.”
10
Isaak
It had been four years since I’d been in this house. Mansion. Four years for me but just over one month for my family. Too soon to expect anything to have changed. The thick marble of the place still gleamed like a beacon. Built to withstand the blistering desert sun and constant heat, it was built with thick stone quarried from the region’s vast mines. It held in the coolness while large windows in every room offered views. While I liked things simple and kept furnishings to a minimum, it lacked for nothing. Just like any household that was part of High Councilor Henrick’s family. While nothing had changed, not a piece of furniture moved, it looked different. I was different. I’d had a staff, a full contingency of servants befitting a rich son of a High Councilor, but when I’d left, I’d paid them handsomely and relocated them to work a cousin’s estate. Since there wasn’t a layer of dust on every surface, it seemed someone had defied my orders and remained behind. Perhaps it was my mother’s doing, maintaining a constant vigil that I might someday return.
Well, that time had come. All because of the female beside me.
While that was true, it was also because of Bertok. He was up to something. Something bad. So bad that