AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shook his head again. “It’s complicated. But if they see you here, they’ll kill you, Gianna. You need to go.”
“What?” She felt the panic start to rise inside of her again. “No. No. I’m not leaving you here.”
He started to untangle her hands from him. “You need to—”
“No.” She tightened her hold.
“They’ll kill you, Gianna!” he repeated, the words coming out between clenched teeth.
It made tears form in her eyes. How had their lives come to this? Sure, they weren’t innocent, but what had they done to deserve to be separated like this? And for Gabe to be forced into some kind of… life-threatening mission. Forwhat?
Behind her, she could hear Kozien coming closer. He placed a hand on her shoulders, gently pulling her away from her brother and giving him space to pace around the small alley. She looked up, seeing Kozien’s face drawn into a frown.
“I can’t let them see you,” Gabe continued, running a frustrated hand through his hair.
Gianna fisted her hands at her sides. “Let me help you, Gabe.”
Her brother shook his head again. “You can’t. Plus, everyone will notice us. You’ve got some… random city guy here with you.”
“Actually,” Kozien chimed in. “I’m from here.”
Gianna stepped forward and grabbed her brother’s arm, stopping him. “Gabe, just come back to the ship with us. We can talk and you can tell me what’s going on. You’ll be safe there.”
His brows pinched together, his eyes moving from her back to Kozien where he narrowed them.
“He’s not dangerous.” She squeezed his arm. “He helped me find you.”
Gabe nodded slowly, leaning into her. “Okay…”
Gianna tugged him along, wanting to get him quickly to the ship before something changed his mind. No matter what, she was going to protect her brother and keep him from getting involved with the D’Narvius anymore than he already had.
Kozien led the way back, his memory impressing her. While they hadn’t gone very far, Gabe’s wandering had confused her enough where everything had started to look the same. She was glad Kozien had the sense to pay attention beforehand.
When they got back to the ship, Kozien opened the hatch and then closed it behind them. He secured it so even if someone had seen them wandering off with Gabe in tow, they’d need a lot more than simply blunt force to get to him.
Gianna pushed her brother onto one of the benches near the rear of the ship, sitting down next to him while Kozien loitered over by the control panels in the front.
She put her hands on her knees and turned to Gabe. “What are they having you do?”
Gabe relaxed back into the bench and let his head rest against the panel. He looked so exhausted that it made her heart squeeze. She couldn’t imagine what he’d been through since the last time she’d seen him. It made her want to go out there and take down the D’Narvius by herself.
“They’re making me run this contraband. They call it Motley.”
Gianna wrinkled her nose. “What does it do?”
Gabe shook his head. “I’m not sure, but it’s laced with nanobytes.”
“Nanobytes?” Gianna repeated, glancing over at Kozien, whose frown mirrored her thoughts.
“Umbrosis, the person or organization behind this thing. They’re the ones pushing to get it all across the galaxy.”
“For what purpose?” Kozien chimed in.
Gabe shook his head. “I think they’re trying to build an army and take over the galaxy.”
This concerned Kozien greatly.
Not only was this Motley contraband potentially highly infective and deadly, but it was also going to be used for some kind of generalized takeover?
