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‘I’ll talk to him about it,’ Kage said. ‘Until then, let’s keep tabs on the clones from afar.’
‘Agreed,’ Riv said.
Zane leaned forward with a glint in his eye. ‘So instead of waiting for Rinnax Holdings to come for them, I’m conducting a full frontal attack from a business perspective.’
‘What does that mean?’ Xion asked.
‘I’ve begun secretly buying up to two million shares of Rinnax Holdings hand over fist.’
‘What does that mean for us?’
‘Only good things if we play it well. The demand for shipbuilding is only growing. Falasia and Galicia have placed large orders of new ships with The Sable Group, as have the growing economies of Zanyria and even Dunia. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to boost component supplies to meet demand quickly, a recipe for shipbuilding and component prices to remain elevated. So piling into a components manufacturer makes sense. Besides, Rinnax Holdings have thrust themselves in The Sable Group’s cross-hairs. So now it’s a matter of waiting until we have controlling interests in the company to stop their all-out war on us.’
‘Cold as ice,’ Kage said with a smirk.
‘Once we have control, we’ll give back all the stolen tech to the affected companies Rinnax stole from because we don’t want blood on our hands. Then we’ll keep everything else and fold it into our ops,’ Zane promised.
‘Ace,’ Kage said in total approval.
He rose from his desk. ‘Got to run, brothers. Important moment coming up.’
The Riders signed out, wishing him well.
Today was the first lunar test of the hybrid fuel vehicle. Finally, Harlow’s project was coming to fruition. And he’d committed to her and her team to be present for it, not just as an observer but to help with whatever they needed. The location for the first test flight was a salt flat outside the dome. Kage was joining in, piloting his corvette to transport the team to the site.
Exiting his office, he walked down two doors from where a buzz of activity emanated. He stepped into the Proto-XE lab, and there she was. Standing in one dark cover of the lab, checking off a list on her comm tab, dressed in her usual work jumpsuit and sturdy boots, her hair tucked under a cap. She was directing the team of researchers as they prepped to leave for the location for the launch. Her face was flushed with excitement, and her voice hitched and husky with nervous energy. She’d never seemed sexier to him than at this moment.
Harlow looked up, and their eyes met. Kage felt a gut kick of desire for her and breathed deeply to counteract it.
‘Ready?’ he said roughly, clenching his fists to stop himself from reaching for her.
‘Yes,’ she said, bestowing him with one of her full smiles. ‘Team?’
Sondra, Bassam and Dan all looked up and waved at him.
‘Ready as we’ll ever be,’ Sondra confirmed. ‘Just doing some final packing.’
‘Excellent,’ he said.
He walked over cases and boxes to Harlow. It bothered him that he caught a flitting look of apprehension in her eyes as she watched him approach.
He reached a hand and gently touched her arm. ‘You OK?’ He said, low and deep so she could only hear him.
‘I’m fine. Just getting ready,’ she said, looking everywhere in the room except at him.
‘We OK?’ he added softly under his breath.
The question surprised her, and she sliced her eyes to his. They stared at each other for a beat. Around them, the teams were so busy gearing up that no one noticed the quiet discussion on one side of the room.
Harlow tilted her head to look up at him. ‘I want us to be,’ she finally whispered.
Kage sighed in relief. ‘I want that too,kara. Been giving you some time to forgive me.’
‘For what?’
‘For being so brash the other night.’
She gave an imperceptible shake of her head. ‘I didn’t behave that well myself.’
