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“It doesn’t take living outside of a cage to know right from wrong,” I countered. “I’ve been raised by robots, people who are pretty much robots and that psychopath Moord, and yet I still know right from wrong, and putting a team deactivation chip in all three of you iswrong.”
“And on that note,” Rix said, almost jovially, “let’s check me for ticks, chips and nits, shall we?” He spun around to show Jorik his back, and using a flashlight that we found below deck, Jorik and I went about checking Rix for tracker chips.
“Ah, here we go,” Jorik said, having pressed the pads of his fingers over the back of Rix’s neck, shoulders and skull. “Feel this, Angel.” He took my free hand and pressed it to a spot just behind Rix’s left ear. “It should be soft, but it’s not.”
My eyes widened. “It’s hard. Like a…”
“Tracker,” Rix finished. He pulled his Yakku blade—a beautiful green-colored one—from his ankle sheath and handed it to me. “Get it out, Cat. I can handle a little pain, and something tells me you’re a more delicate touch than either of these savages.” He grinned at me over his shoulder, then winked.
Even though I had my own Yakku blade, I took his and gently wedged the tip of the blade into the skin behind his ear.
Jorik was now holding the flashlight for me so I could rest my other hand on Rix’s shoulder to keep him steady, not that I needed to. He didn’t move a muscle.
Blood began to slide down the blade as I pierced his skin. “I’m sorry,” I said with a wince, sucking in a breath.
“I’ve been through worse. You’re doing great, Cat.”
His encouragement bolstered my confidence, so with my jaw set, I wiggled the blade in a little deeper until I felt it touch the device. Then I gently flicked the device out through the incision I’d made, and it landed in a bloody splat on the white boat deck.
I handed Rix a cloth, and he pressed it behind his ear. “One down, three of us to go.”
After I removed the trackers from Rix, Jorik and Zane, then it was my turn.
The three of them actually argued over who had the steadier hand and who should be permitted to take out my tracker. I wasn’t sure why I found it cute, but I did.
“I’m the lighter touch,” Jorik said. “You two are like gorillas.”
“Am fucking not,” Rix said, clearly offended. “Your hands are the size of hams, and are you forgetting which one of us is a fucking sniper.” He held out his hand, palm down. “See, rock solid. I’m cool as a fucking cucumber.”
My gaze slid to Zane, who was watching his bickering friends with a bored expression on his face. I handed him my Yakku blade. “Try not to slip and sever my carotid, please.”
He grunted and took the knife. “No promises.”
I grinned at him over my shoulder as I inched closer and swept my hair out of the way.
His touch was surprisingly gentle as he pressed the pad of his index finger behind my ears in search of the tracker.
A shiver of something not at all unwelcome coursed through me, and I could swear he felt it, too. He certainly paused and sucked in a breath to indicate he had. That’s when I finally remembered what we’d been up to before the helicopter and those guys in wet suits interrupted us.
Did he remember it, too?
“I can’t find it,” he said, his voice a gravelly rumble behind me.
I spun around, prodding at the space behind my ears where their trackers had been. “What do you mean?” But my question was rhetorical. I couldn’t feel a tracker either.
“Maybe she doesn’t have one?” Rix said, having ended his argument with Jorik when he saw that Zane and I had taken matters into our own hands.
“Or it’s just not where ours are,” Zane said plainly, handing me back my blade.
“So then it’s somewhere else on my body. I have no problem stripping down and letting you guys feel around until we find it.”
Their gazes slid to each other, but none of them said anything for a moment.
“Uh … I think that’s something you could probably do yourself.” Jorik scratched his chest. This seemed to be a nervous tick he had. “I mean, you know what it feels like now.”
“What if it’sinsideher?” Rix suggested. All of our eyes went wide.
“Then how are we supposed to get it out?” I blurted.
