Page 9

“He will,” Dare said darkly.

As he turned a corner, he saw Rynan up ahead, in front of the doors to the gym.

His brother shook his head. “He’s dead.”

“What?” Dare reached him and looked into the gym. The ship’s gymnasium was filled with exercise equipment, a muscle conditioning unit, and a small resistance pool for doing laps.

The monk sat slumped against the far wall, his legs splayed in front of him. His eyes were colorless and bulging out of his head. A white froth coated his lips.

“Dammit,” Dare bit out.

A small woman in a navy-blue medic jumpsuit was crouched beside the man’s body, running a handheld scanner over him. Elana looked up. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. “Definitely dead. Poisoned.”

“With what?” Dare demanded.

Elana stood. She barely reached the center of his chest, but that didn’t make her any less skilled or tough. She frowned at the screen of her scanner. “I’m not sure. It’s not common. The scanner is still running through the database.”

Dare ran a hand through his hair. Damn. He wanted answers.

The scanner beeped, and Elana’s dark brows rose. “Vrofin.”

Dare frowned. “What the hell is that?”

Ry cursed. “It’s an engineered poison used by members of Golden Nova.”

Now Dare cursed. Justyn and Nissa wouldn’t be happy to hear this. Golden Nova was a cult-like terrorist organization that plagued the galaxy. They were crazy, dangerous, and destructive. Their leader also happened to be Nissa’s estranged brother.

Dare looked down at the dead man’s face. If Golden Nova was involved, whatever the hell was going on wasn’t good.

He needed answers. And now there was only one person who could give them to him.

Dakota paced her cabin. She’d thought it spacious before, but now it felt very small.

Her cheek was throbbing and she held a cold cloth on it. Her shoulder hadn’t stopped bleeding.

She’d lied to Dare. That crazy-ass assassin’s knife had nicked her.

She wanted to tear her coat and wig off, but she was too afraid. She was certain she’d have unwelcome visitors before too long. Her heart was still pounding. Calm down, Dakota. She’d survive. Like she always did.

But if Dare caught the assassin, she was certain he’d sing like a Terran canary.

She sat heavily on the bed, her head in her hands. Maybe Davarr wouldn’t tell them anything? Maybe he’d keep the map a secret?

Dammit all. She shot to her feet. She couldn’t take the risk. She was well aware that the brothers of the Phoenix deep-space convoy had a set of cousins—the notorious Phoenix brothers. The galaxy’s most infamous treasure hunters. If they found out she was carrying the map to a secret lost Terran treasure worth billions of e-creds…

She had to get away from here. They weren’t far from Galaxy’s Edge. She could take an escape pod and get close enough to the space station to get picked up by a starship.

She left her bag. It was filled with Miss Johns’ boring, baggy clothes, and she didn’t need them anymore.

Checking her wig was straight, she tore open the panel beside her cabin door. She pulled out her tiny multi-tool, and quickly disabled the comp system. She didn’t want someone on the bridge knowing she was on the move. She headed out into the corridor. The closest escape pods weren’t far away, at the end of this level.

With her pulse racing, she walked at a fast clip, but not too fast. She didn’t want to raise anyone’s suspicion.

She took a corridor left, and saw four escape pods ahead, set into the ship’s exterior wall. These were four-man pods. She opened the control panel, and again disabled the system linking the pods to the ship’s comp. She tapped in the required commands to initiate departure.

When she launched, someone on the bridge would know, but she’d be gone before anyone could reach her. Hopefully, the hunt for the fake monk would keep them busy.

The control panel beeped, and one of the reinforced synth-glass pod doors slid open. Inside, the cylindrical space was empty, except for four harnesses hanging on the smooth metal walls for survivors to strap into.