AllFreeNovel
Share Us
First, I stopped by the bakery to grab something Arkani would consider valuable enough to trade.
“Makar, I’m using your system for a minute!” I shouted, then locked myself in the office.
This was… not exactly orthodox. And Void only knew what Alkard would think about the plan.
But I was ready to blow things up. Just in a different way than usual.
Back to the ring district, to the seedy bar I was at just days ago.
“Why are we meeting again?” the first Arkani hissed. “It is too dangerous.”
“If you’re as good at rumors as you say you are, you’ll know why I’m here, and who I’m looking for.”
The two hooded figures turned towards each other, seeming to converse without speaking. But behind those black masks, who knew what they were doing?
“The human female,” the second one admitted. “You want her back.”
Fury coiled through my gut but I tamped it back down. “I’ll get her back. It’s just a matter of finding out how many people are going to die along the way.”
Right. Apparently the anger was still pretty damn present.
“The Karavak are small players,” the first started. “We risk little by telling you of their secrets.”
“But Conii and her clan,” the second picked up the thread. “They would crush us if they could.”
Slowly, I pulled a data spike from my pocket, sliding it halfway across the table to them.
“I know you can gather data from all over the station.” I moved the spike back towards me. “But can you also send data everywhere?”
As one, they reached for the spike, long fingers stretching for it.
“What is it? Is it good? Is it interesting?”
“Secrets,” I promised. “Secrets like you’ve never imagined.”
“Whose? What do you want for it?”
I wrapped the spike in my fist. “Tell me where my mate is first. How do I get to her?”
The hoods leaned so close to each other now that they touched as long minutes stretched out.
Emma. She was waiting for me.
But strangling the Arkani wouldn’t get me to her any sooner.
I needed the one virtue I spent my life thinking of as useless.
Patience.
Finally, they sat back.
“The human woman is back at Conii’s compound,” the one on the left announced. “There is a hidden section that none of her regular staff know about.”
Secrets upon secrets, indeed.
“Then how do I get in?”
The one on the right reached for the spike, and this time, I handed it over. Sliding it into the slot on his percomm, he froze. Not for the first time, I wished I could see the expression behind the mask.
