“Dinner? Is that your plan?”
“I don’t have a plan.”
“Huh. First time for everything, I guess. Let me handle this next bit.”
Xaber gave the female his most charming smile and gestured for her to take the lead. “My name is Xaber, and this is Mace. We’d be happy to escort you back to the main section of the station.”
“I’m Tix, and I appreciate the offer.” She glanced over her shoulder, as if confirming that Karta and his crew were gone. Then she set off, walking past them with a casual saunter that belied everything he knew she must be feeling right now.
He’d learned more than her name in the last few minutes. He’d also discovered that she knew how to hide weakness and get on with what needed doing.
She wasn’t a damsel in distress. She was a survivor.
They followed a few steps behind her. Mace scanned the physical area while Xaber monitored the digital landscape.
“Are you going to scrub the recording of the fight?”he asked his batch-brother.
“Already done. Tix isn’t the only one who wants to stay off Corp-Sec’s radar.”
That was true. They were properly licensed and registered bounty hunters, but that didn’t mean security forces were thrilled to have them around. They’d heard a variation of the“keep your nose clean, and don’t try to do our jobs for us” lecture almost everywhere they went.
When they’d filed to make Defiance Station their base of operations, they had been called in to a meeting with the head of the security team. It turned out that the rumors were true. Former IAF Colonel Scott Archer had indeed had his sense of humor surgically removed and replaced with a very large stick.
He replayed the man’s words in his head—not a memory but a segment of a saved file he’d kept of that encounter.
“I have no issues with who you are or what you do. But if you so much as scratch a deck plate on this shiny, incredibly expensive new station, I will revoke your license and kick you off Defiance so fast you won’t notice until you’re half a light-year away.”
It didn’t take them long to reach the main station. While the docking rings were several kilometers across, there were plenty of connection points so that neither crews nor cargo had to travel far.
The second they passed through the heavily reinforced doorway, Tix turned to face them. “And this is where we part ways. Have a good night and thanks.”
She didn’t want them to know where she lived. The suspicious part of his nature approved of her caution, even though he wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet. Too bad he had no idea what he could say to change her mind.
“Hold that thought,” Xaber said. “We’ve grown a tail.”
Mace resisted the urge to look back the way they’d come. That would give away the game to whoever was following them.
Tix’s brow creased, and she tilted her head slightly in confusion. It only took her a second to understand Xaber’s meaning, though. Then her expression turned stony.
“Who did they send? And how do you know?”
Xaber pointed in a random direction and smiled cheerfully, his actions at odds with his next words. “I’m tapped into the station’s security network. Not a full breach, but it’s enough for me to view the area we left. It’s not Karta but another member of that ship’s crew. I watched him leave that vessel, but I wasn’t sure he was following us until we paused just now. The moment we stopped, he ducked out of sight.”
“Fraxx.” Tix glanced to her right and then sighed. “If I go home, they’ll know where to find me. I need to find somewhere else to be until they give up.”
Xaber nodded. “Their ship is scheduled to depart in four hours. Do you have somewhere else to go until then?”
Her lips thinned and her eyes darkened with worry. By the time she shook her head, Mace already knew she was out of options.
“You’re sure they sent someone to follow me?” she asked Xaber.
“I’m sure. He’s in a brown and yellow jumpsuit and is pretending to browse through a display of gadgets about thirty meters back.”
“You’re good at this,” Tix observed.
“It’s what I was designed to do. I’m built for infiltration and espionage.” Xaber lowered his voice to a theatrical whisper. “Which means I can say with absolute certainty that the weasel following us is terrible at this.”
Tix relaxed and smiled a little at the joke.
