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She hefted one of the coin bags in her hand. Probably worth a hundred thousand credits. Not chump change by any means. It found its way into her knapsack.
The destabilizer was stored in a heavy wooden box about the size of her hand. She unlatched the lid and pushed it open. There was no way she’d make a mistake while retrieving this item. It was worth more than her life.
Red velvet cradled the globe of shiny metal, the electronic keypad on its face currently in sleep mode. She let out a breath, then locked the box back up and slipped it into her pack. She wouldn’t want to be within two planets if that thing detonated. Luckily, she was handing it over to Boyd as soon as she got out of here. And then those shiny credits would be in her bank account and she could kiss this life goodbye once and for all.
Renna flipped the safe closed and locked it back up. She tweaked the wires again, resetting the combination back to what the Cordozas had set. Nothing quite like confusing the hell out of your targets.
Whistling softly, she slung the bag over her shoulder. Now all she needed was to slip back out the way she’d come in and turn the fence back on, with no one the wiser. But she had one quick detour to make first.
Her implant had detected a store of fibroseparators in the corner of the warehouse, and she’d almost danced with glee. Each device could fetch up to fifty thousand on the market, especially if you knew the right mercenaries—the ones who didn’t want to report their gunshot wounds or blade slices. And, boy, did she know the right mercenaries. They would offer double if she could keep them in stock. Plus the couple she kept for herself. You never knew when a job would go tits up.
She found the stash without a problem and shoved a dozen into her pack with a smile. She’d already picked out the perfect cottage on a beach, far away from the drugs and stench of her current life. It would be peaceful. Relaxing. Safe. She’d change her name, and Renna Carrizal would finally be dead. She’d worked hard to put the past behind her, to break away from the tenement life and her abusive mother. Now it was time to figure out who she was without all that baggage.
Her hand played with the sapphire around her neck idly, and lost in her dreams, she barely registered the whimper until her implant squawked in her ear.
“Human presence detected.”
Renna froze, hand on her pistol. She scanned the rows of crates, the shelves along the back wall, but the warehouse stood still and silent. Damn this implant. It couldn’t be time for a new upgrade already.
“Report,” she ordered.
“Thirteen meters to the left. Crate 107.” The mechanical female voice was emotionless as always, but Renna’s heart thudded in her chest. She turned and stared at the number 107 burned roughly into the wood of the crate. The thing looked barely big enough to hold a dog, let alone a human.
Another symbol was burned alongside the numbers: a strange eye crossed by two spears. She didn’t recognize the mark. Maybe the crate was destined for one of the Outer Rim gangs. Were the Cordozas trafficking in slaves now, too?
The whimpering grew louder. “Is someone out there? Please help me.”
She stared at the crate, lips parted at the young voice. She twitched her heavy bag higher on her shoulder, glancing toward the exit.
So much for getting in and out quickly. This was a complication she couldn’t afford.
“Please! Help me! I know you’re out there!” The terror in the kid’s voice was thick and palpable.
Renna frowned. Took a step toward the exit. She wanted to help, really she did, but…
“Please. I’ve been here for days. I promise my uncle will pay you.” The boy’s voice broke on the last word, and she froze.
If that was the case, she would be more than happy to take the kid off the Cordozas’ hands. Drugs and weapons were bad enough. She shouldn’t let them get away with trafficking, too.
“Hold on, I’ll have you out in a sec,” she said softly, using the spanner to remove the nails from the crate. She stepped lithely out of the way as the front panel fell to the floor.
Renna’s eyes widened, but she was too good a mercenary to let any other shock show. Inside the crate was a cage, and inside the cage was a small, dark-skinned boy, half-naked. The smell of unwashed skin made her stomach churn. He’d obviously been there more than a few days.
She gritted her teeth as he cowered in the corner, his dark eyes shadowed and haunted. Bruises and cuts marred his chest and arms. She dropped to a crouch before the laser lock.
“What’s your name?” she asked gently, careful not to let her anger show.
“Myka. Myka Aldani.”
“Nice to meet you, Myka. My name is Renna, and I’m going to get you out of here.”
The boy nodded and crept forward from his corner.
“So where do you come from, Myka?” she asked as she tackled the lock with her tools. She tried to ignore how gaunt his bare chest was, every rib poking from his skin. Her fingers tightened around her nanospanner. If she ever ran into the Cordozas in a dark alley…
“I was living with my uncle in New Rome Colony, but my parents and I are from Banos Prime.” His voice stayed expressionless, and Renna nodded. Banos Prime had been destroyed three years ago. Most of the population had been wiped out.
“Were your parents killed in the attack?”
The boy stared at her silently before nodding once.
“I’m sorry.” Renna bowed her head over the last tumbler on the lock. What the hell were the Cordozas doing with this little boy?
The last tumbler fell into place, and the laser light shut off. “There we go. No problem.” Renna smiled at the boy and tugged the cage front open. “You’re free.”
He stared at the open door as if he didn’t believe his eyes.
And then the shrieking alarms began.
TWO
“Shit.” Renna glanced at the metal cage. How the hell hadn’t she noticed the golden tripwire coiled across the top? This was why she didn’t do jobs without prepping first. This was a rookie mistake, one she hadn’t made since she was thirteen.
Growling under her breath, she reached into the cage to grab Myka’s skinny arm. “Come on, kid. We need to get the hell out of here.”
“Scan perimeter for heat signatures,” Renna ordered her implant. “All exits.” Her heart sank as it showed all four guards reacting to the alarm. She clasped the boy’s hand and sprinted away from his cage. “Display alternate exits.” Her implant obeyed, and she almost wished it hadn’t. Multiple heat signatures at every entrance.
