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She blinked. Where had all this maternal concern come from?
Finn curled his lips back, baring his teeth. “No. We’re not.” He bit off the words through a clenched jaw. “I’m commanding officer on this mission, Carrizal. You would do well to remember that.”
Her ears roared with her racing pulse, and she fought to keep her voice under her control. She’d promised the kid he’d be safe, dammit. She didn’t break promises. “Listen to me, Captain. You don’t know what they’re going to do to him. He can’t go through that again.” Despite her efforts, Renna’s voice went shrill, echoing through the flight deck.
“I can’t risk what’s left of the mission. Viktis’s ship has an advanced class ship-to-ship missile. They’ll destroy us if we go back. We need to focus on getting to Aldani and stopping the attacks. If we don’t, more people than Myka will die.”
“He said he wouldn’t help you until he had his nephew back. Why the hell do you think he’ll help you now?” Renna put her hands on her hips, carefully sliding the gun from her waistband.
“We found Myka once; we can rescue him again. But what we can’t do is let another planet be destroyed. Millions of people are dead because of these attacks.” Finn raked a hand through his hair, his voice lowering to a frustrated growl. “The doctor has to understand that stopping these people is the only way to accomplish his goals. My mission is to break into the facility and find the truth. Once we have that information, we can focus on Myka. I’m sorry to say it, but the boy isn’t our priority right now. Getting the particle destabilizer to Aldani is.”
A muscle twitched in Finn’s jaw as he placed a heavy hand on the back of Kojima’s chair. “Flight Lieutenant, get us to Iniros. The sooner Aldani knows what’s going on, the sooner we can end this thing.”
They were going to end this thing right now if she had her way. Renna aimed her blaster at the captain. “Don’t make me do this, Finn.” She turned to Kojima. “Take us back to Krooss.”
Beside her, Keva pulled her own gun, and two other MYTH agents swarmed the bridge, their blasters pointed at Renna. “Put the gun down now!” Keva ordered.
“Not until we have Myka back.”
“I will not have mutiny aboard my ship.” Captain Finn crossed his arms, his blue eyes snapping between the two women. “Renna, put your gun down. Now. Before you do something you regret.”
She kept it pointed at his heart. “No.”
Finn’s voice softened. “I understand how you feel. I want to go after Myka, too. But we need to stop these people. They’ve gone to great lengths to find this boy; they’re not going to kill him now.”
No, but there were things worse than death. “Such a mercenary way to look at the world, Captain.”
Finn nodded once.
Strong arms grabbed her from behind, wrenching the gun from her hand. She struggled against her captor, tried to smash her head against whoever it was, but the grip around her chest tightened.
“Now, now,” a man’s voice said in her ear. “Didn’t you ever learn to play nice with others?”
She froze for a moment, pressed against his bulk. Corporal Bokal, the tech chief? Where had he come from? For such a massive man, she’d never even heard him coming up the other set of stairs.
Renna thrashed again, heart pounding frantically at the feeling of being trapped. She was not going to let Finn win like this. “Let go of me!”
“Put her in the brig. We’ll deal with her when we get to Iniros,” Keva ordered, holstering her gun. The Delfine’s beautiful face twisted with scorn. “Nothing like a little poetic justice, eh, Carrizal?”
She’d shove that poetic justice up the alien’s ass if Keva kept looking at Renna like that. But Bokal was too big and held her too tightly, so she said nothing, just glared at Finn and his XO.
How the hell had this happened? Everything had gone wrong from the moment she’d taken this damn job. And now Finn had taken away everything from her. Acid rose to her throat, and she swallowed it back. She just needed to bide her time. Revenge was a bitch, and the captain and his crew would be in plenty of trouble when they showed up at Aldani’s labs without Myka.
She just hoped she was around to see the man’s reaction. The captain deserved everything that was coming to him.
Bokal’s hands were firm but gentle as he pushed her into the brig. He locked the door and frowned at her. “Didn’t think we’d be back here so soon. I’m sorry about this. Can’t blame you for wanting to go back for the boy.” His voice was low and rumbly as he rubbed a hand against his wide jaw.
“Then why didn’t you stand up to Finn?”
“Because he’s the boss. I’m just a corporal.” He shook his head. “You’ve never been in the military, have you? You don’t disagree with a superior offer. That’s grounds for court martial.”
Renna sighed. Since when had she gotten so soft? She’d never cared this much about a job before, but something in the boy’s dark eyes haunted her. And she’d promised to keep him safe. That damn moral code was going to get her killed one of these days.
“They’re going to hurt Myka if we don’t go back.”
Bokal frowned. “I know, but there’s nothing we can do until the captain gives the word. And who knows? Aldani might have a better idea than rushing in and attacking. I hear he’s a smart guy. Did you know he created a time machine? He’s still testing it, but if it works…” Bokal’s voice trailed off, but Renna didn’t need him to continue. She could only imagine the ramifications of time travel. Hell, she could go back and stop Myka from being kidnapped in the first place.
“Let’s hope it’s true.”
“I can’t wait to meet him. I’ve heard all of his intergalactic broadcasts, read his treatise on antimatter and particle destabilization. The man’s brilliant.”
“He’d better be. The entire galaxy is in his hands right now.” Renna had met plenty of brilliant men on her jobs. They were usually about as stable as a three-legged chair. And right now, a single crazy act could blow the traverse sky high.
Bokal shifted his weight. “I’m sorry about this, Miss Carrizal, but I need to make sure you don’t have any other weapons on you.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “Are you asking if you can pat me down, Chief?”
