She gave him a long look but let it drop, turning to carry on walking. He stayed right where he was, close enough to feel the heat of her body through his clothes.
Draanth. What if she decided she wanted one of her own kind instead? Some soft human male who didn’t come with a forged diagnosis and violence issues. The thought lodged in his chest. He shoved it down hard, buried it under layers of practiced indifference. He didn’t have time to think about that right now, and besides, she was just a means to an end…
He turned his mind back to the mission.
She’d been right about every detail so far. The delivery schedule, the shift overlap, the window of maximum chaos. The female read supply chains like he read defensive lines…. all the moving pieces, all the gaps, all the places where pressure could be applied.
Not bad. You picked one who actually knows what she’s doing.
They moved through the secondary loading area at the pace of people who’d done this a hundred times. He kept his head down and his stride easy, but every sense he had was on high alert.
A loader swung wide around a stack of crates and he caught her elbow, pulling her half a step closer as the machine trundled past. The operator didn’t even slow down.
“Short by six, you draanthing half-wit!” a Latharian supervisor bellowed from somewhere to their left. “I signed for twelve?—”
The service corridor door was propped open with a maintenance crate. He stepped through first, scanning, then moved aside to let Cait pass him, kicking the crate free. The noise of the dock cut out the moment the door slid closed behind them. One second, there was the roar of the loading bay, the next just the soft tap of their footsteps on the deck plating.
“Should be just up here,” Cait murmured, slowing as they approached the section of wall marked on her schematic. “Panel’s supposed to be between these two conduits.”
Raaze looked at the wall.
It was solid and smooth. The wall stayed smooth under his stare, not a single seam or hinge to betray where the access point should have been. Draanth.
She ran her palm over the surface, her brow furrowing as she checked the position against her data-slate.
“This is the right spot,” she said. “We’re standing exactly where the access point should be.”
Should be being the operative words.
You absolute draanthing idiot. Picked yourself a tactical genius and still ended up staring at a blank wall like some rookie who forgot to scout the secondary routes.
“Fred?” Cait asked.
A beat of silence. Then Fred’s voice came through the comm Cait had pressed into place behind his ear before they’d left the ship.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” The AI’s tone was less composed than usual, angrier.
An AI with a godsdamn temper. Perfect. Just tralling perfect.
“Someone sealed the shaft,” Fred said, the words almost a snarl. “Sometime in the last eighteen months. Updated the physical structure, didn’t update the public records because why would anyone do their fucking job properly?—”
“Fred.” Cait’s voice was calm and steady. Raaze got the feeling she’d dealt with outbursts like this before. “We need options. Like fast.”
“I’m working on it. Give me a moment.”
Raaze leaned against the wall, arms folded as he watched the corridor in both directions. It was empty for now. But for now had a way of changing fast.
“How long?” he asked.
“As long as it takes me to acquire the correct building schematic,” Fred snapped. “Which I am doing right now, thank you for your patience.”
Raaze bit back his snort of amusement. This was not the moment. The AI was having a minor breakdown, their route was compromised, and they were standing in a corridor where anyone could walk by at any second.
But draanth, it was funny.
Thirty seconds passed, then forty. Cait’s fingers tightened around the edges of her slate.
“Got it,” Fred said finally. “I have the current schematic. The shaft is definitely sealed… they converted it to cable runs during the renovation. But I can guide you through the service corridors on foot. It’s not optimal.”
