Justyn held his hands up. “Hey, I told you the pretty little colonist was after Dare’s body, not mine. He usually takes his pick of the ladies on a convoy, keeps one for the duration.”
Nissa tilted her head. “Never longer?”
“Never. A bit better than Rynan. He never sleeps with the same woman twice.”
“And you?”
A wicked smile. “A gentleman never tells.”
“Youare no gentleman.”
“Right. Well, let’s just say I’ve had my eye on a certain Patrol captain for a while.”
Her insides warmed. Those words affected her, even if she suspected they weren’t true. She cleared her throat. “So, I was going to tell you what I found.”
He leaned a hip against the table. “Let’s hear it.” He touched a finger to her cheekbone, stroking softly. His voice lowered. “I am incredibly happy you found whatever it is since it brought you to me in the middle of the night.”
She tried to fight the smile, but it won out. “I found a reference in the document that I’m sure is talking about Griffin.”
He straightened. “What?”
“It talks about a group of Terran adventurers whose ship was attacked. They barely survived, but were rescued and brought to Hydrae. The timing’s right. About a thousand years ago.”
He rubbed his nose against hers. “Sounds like we’re definitely on the right track.”
“You haven’t heard the best bit.”
“Hit me.”
“It talks about the fact they were carrying a sacred old-Earth treasure.”
He punched a fist in the air. “We’re going to do this, Nissa. We’re going to find the US Constitution.”
She answered his wild smile, but then it slipped away. “Unless whoever destroyed my notes also saw the information. And passes it onto someone else.”
Justyn straightened and used a few creative curses. “We need to get to Hydrae. Fast.” He leaped to his feet. “And we need to tell no one where we’re headed or when. Let’s keep our mole in the dark.”
“Strapped in?”
At his question, Nissa glanced up from the co-pilot’s chair in theMercury. “Strapped in.”
Justyn set about firing up the engines. It was nice to be back in his little runnership. He loved theNomadand the company of its crew, but there was something about being off by himself, in charge of his direction, headed wherever the hell he wanted to go that appealed strongly to him.
Though—he stole a glance at the woman beside him—it was kind of nice having Nissa in the chair beside him.
He tapped the console and Rynan’s face filled the screen. “Ry, we clear to leave?”
“Yes. See you at Hydrae, and be careful, bro.”
Justyn tossed his brother a salute, then focused on the viewscreen. The main hangar of theNomadwas big. It housed Justyn’s runnership, Rynan’s medium-sized cuttership called thePathfinder, Aurina’s scoutship she’d named theAriel,and two shuttles.
With a touch of the controls, his girl responded instantly and rose just a few centimeters off the deck. Another touch and she turned to face the external door covered with the purple shimmer of a huma-field.
“All right. Next stop Hydrae.”
Justyn maneuvered theMercuryout of the hangar, and moments later they were alongside the bulk of theSkyNomad. He set the course. “Once we hit interstellar speed, we’ll reach Hydrae in just over an hour.”
Nissa rubbed her hands together. “Great. I can’t wait to see what we find.”
