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She stared at each of them in turn, willing them to believe her, to trust her, but every gaze dropped as she met it. Her body went cold. She should have known better. No one ever trusted a thief, no matter what they said.
“Finn. You promised me…” Her voice broke when he wouldn’t meet her eyes, instead staring at a spot on the wall. Spots danced in her vision.
“Fuck this,” she spun on her heel. “I thought better of you all.” She stared straight at Finn as she said it, hurt making her heart beat sluggishly. Everything he’d said about trust had been a lie. He’d never believed in her. Had it all been an act?
“Renna. Wait. We need you to stay on the ship. Dallas’s orders,” Jayla said apologetically. “I can’t let you leave.”
“Then I guess I’ll be in my bunk, waiting for all of you to come to your senses.” She slammed her palm against the button that opened the door and marched out, spine straight, face expressionless. This was bullshit and they all knew it.
She wasn’t going to wait around for Dallas to decide she was a traitor. She had a real traitor to stop. And that meant getting the hell off the Eris without getting caught. Luckily they were on Forever Station, and she knew the bowels of that place like the back of her hand.
When she was safely back in her room, she grabbed her duffel bag and shoved a few changes of clothes into it, along with her tools and tablet. She pulled on her leather coat and hid half a dozen knives in her boots and the slots in her sleeves. Where she was going, it never hurt to be heavily armed.
Now she just had to get off the ship without Finn, or anyone else, stopping her.
The pain of his betrayal hit her again like a punch in the gut, and she wrapped her arms around her waist. Her knees gave out, and she fell onto her mattress, biting back a sob. How could she have been so wrong about him? After everything they’d been through. Everything they’d said. Hell, she’d almost told him she loved him less than an hour ago.
She curled her hand into a fist and punched her pillow.
Damn him. Damn them all. She didn’t need them. She’d done perfectly fine without them until now; she’d be fine working alone again. She’d take down Samil if she did nothing else before she turned into a cyborg.
Someone rapped softly at her door, and Renna froze. Shit, they’d come to lock her in the brig already. She didn’t want to resort to violence, but there was no way they were taking her in. Quickly, she dropped her duffle beside the bed and kicked it beneath the mattress.
“Who’s there?” she demanded.
“Renna, open up. It is Viktis.”
She glowered at the door. He was the one unknown in this whole situation. Did he believe her? Or was he siding with his new friend, Finn?
“What do you want?” she demanded through the door.
“To help you,” he answered softly. “I can get you off the ship without anyone knowing.”
“And why would you do that?” she asked.
“Renna. Stop wasting time! It’s me. You know I have your back.”
She opened the door. “Just checking. I didn’t know how your bromance with Finn had affected your senses.”
“The captain’s a f**king idiot if he believes that video. Now get your stuff. We don’t have much time before Jayla puts the ship on lockdown.”
Renna grabbed her bag from beneath her bunk and noticed Viktis already had his own duffel slung over his shoulder. “A little conspicuous,” she said, nodding to it.
“Not if we’re on shore leave.” He grinned, his amber eyes sparkling. “Let’s go. We have a station to get lost in.”
Renna followed him through the sleeping quarters and to the cargo bay hatch. The bay was empty, all of the technicians still finishing up their own duties docking the ship and prepping it for a quick getaway, per Jayla’s orders.
Viktis opened the hatch, and the pair slipped out into the metal docking tube that led to the main station. None of the port crew paid them any attention as they picked their way over cables and around carts of tools. Renna followed closely behind Viktis, but they kept their pace casual, two engineers off for some shore leave on the most infamous station in the sector. They cleared the docking bay and headed for the elevators at the end of the warehouse.
“Where to?” Renna asked. “I’m assuming you have a plan in mind?”
Viktis smiled slowly. “You know me so well. I have an apartment down in the Merrin district where we can lay low until I get a hold of my ship. I’m assuming you’ve got your own ideas?”
She grinned back at him. “The ship you won in a poker game? Finn said there was quite the story behind it. I can’t wait to hear it.”
“All in good time,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s get you safely out of here first.”
Renna nodded. “My plan is to go after Samil, but I need some information first. Every advantage I can get.” A dull throb started behind her eyes, wiping the smile from her face. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Viktis asked, eyebrows shooting up. “Are you all right?”
She shook her head. “My implant has a built-in comm, and Gheewala will be able to track me using my EMP signature as soon as they realize I’m gone.”
“Can you shut it off?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to try.” Renna focused on the signature of her implant. Gheewala had said it was unique, but if she could turn it off or blend it with some of the other communications in the station, maybe she could hide her presence.
She took a deep breath and felt herself slip into the comm network. Her mind moved sluggishly as she pushed through the electromagnetic field. Definitely not the easy connection she’d made with the Athena. Energy sparked through her mind, but after a minute she found the comm line. With a few tweaks to the energy signature, she closed off the ship’s communication access to her implant. That should keep them from contacting her for the time being. Now hopefully she could find a way to keep them from tracking her, too.
Renna slipped deeper into the station’s network, searching for something she could use as a shield. If she hid her signature behind a stronger one, maybe that would be enough. The sensation of travelling through the wires and electromagnetic fields felt like swooping through a tube at light speed. Her whole body tingled as the network curved back on itself or dropped to another level of the station.
And then she felt it. The heartbeat of Forever Station. The central control room where everything originated.
