Page 34 of Synnr's Ride

Jori's expression went blank. "Program the device and show me how to use it. We hit our targets before the week is out."

* * *

Dread settled over Jori like a cloak when he arrived at the bar. Hanna was smiling with Zilly and slinging drinks as if she'd been working there for years instead of a week.

Only a few of Kark's crew were there. Kark and his closest men were gone, and Jori was glad of it. He knew he should be using the opportunity to gently pry into the history of the Demons. Underlings might give him information by accident.

Instead he nursed his beer and watched Hanna.

He knew he should call last night a mistake. A lapse in judgement that could lead to critical mission failure. A catastrophe.

But the only thing he wanted now was to take her away from this place and keep her safe.

Hanna must have felt his eyes on her. She looked over at him and their gazes locked. He shivered with the need for her and forced himself to look away.

At least they had to pretend they were together. If they had to be strangers, the mission would crash and burn.

"You alright?" Maisum, one of the newer men in Kark's crew, asked. "Trouble with your girl?"

Jori could give some gruff answer. Or a lewd one. What he couldn't do was pour his troubles out to a man who might be a terrorist. But he couldn't bring himself to make a lewd joke about Hanna.

He said nothing, and Maisum took it as an invitation to talk.

"I had a thing with this guy not too long ago and it went sour, so I know the look." He nudged Jori's shoulder in misguided solidarity. "It started out great, right? Could not keep our hands off of each other. His Match didn't like it, but she wasn't his wife."

"He had a Match?" Jori wasn't supposed to get pulled into the story, but he couldn't help himself. He didn't know why he’d asked the question. While many Matched Zulir couples and groups fell into romantic relationships, plenty were purely platonic. Others fell in and out of romance or allowed multiple people into their relationships. There was no one way to be Matched.

"Yeah, her family owned this toy company and they both worked for it. I tried to get him to come hang out here instead. He was wasting his time at NovaTek."

That name meant something to Jori, but he couldn't quite place it. "What's this got to do with me and Hanna?"

"Don't let stupid stuff get in the way. Life's too short." Maisum slammed down the rest of his drink.

And that's when Jori remembered NovaTek. It was one of the buildings destroyed by the bomb. The bomb Kark and his men might have set.

"Why'd you want him here? Was he into bikes?" And was Maisum involved?

Maisum shook his head. "Not a bit. He was more into itty-bitty robotics, so small you could barely see them. He tried to explain the tech to me once, but I didn't get it until... well, I'm not the type to get it, you know. He lost an arm in that bomb."

Before Jori had to think of a response, Kark, Rexx, and Jursor burst into the room, and Maisum got up to greet them.

Jori took a mental note of Maisum's story, and the information about the type of robotics being built at the toy company. That could be important.

Kark settled into his seat at the head of the table and the rest of the guys fanned out around him. Jori was shunted to the seat furthest from Kark and had to strain to listen to the little jokes Rexx kept interjecting with.

He needed to get in Kark's good graces, but he didn't regret his seat. Half of Rexx's jokes were indiscriminately offensive, and the other half didn't even have punch lines. Even Kark got annoyed and sent him to get another round of drinks after awhile.

Another hour passed, and the table was full to bursting. Kark and Jursor had their heads together and were talking low.

Kark looked up and glanced at Jori. "Hey, new guy, go dance with your girl."

"She's busy." The night had picked up, and Hanna and Zilly had been in non-stop motion behind the bar every time Jori risked a look.

"She's on break," Kark insisted. "Go keep her company."

Real talk was about to happen and Jori didn't get to hear it.

"You got it, man." Jori couldn't argue any further. And just because he wasn't there, didn't mean he wouldn't hear every word, eventually. One of the buttons on his coat had a recorder built into it and he and Hanna could listen in when they got home.

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