Page 59 of Ruin

For now, they had a target to kill and a mission to complete.

Chapter 19

Ruin led the way down the corridor, stepping over bodies and debris, Hush, Lira, and Beep following close behind.

Despite the security personnel being reduced to heaps on the floor, he stayed alert, weapon raised. Hush hadn’t seen anything on the ship’s systems to suggest booby-traps or additional guards, but that wasn’t a guarantee.

Better to be overly cautious than caught unawares.

At the door to Gaius's office, Hush put one hand over the access panel and raised the other in a closed-fist gesture for silence.

After a beat, he raised a finger, signaling the room had a single occupant.

Ruin glanced at Lira, ensuring she was out of the line of fire and that Beep had her covered. From over the robot’s back, she offered a small smile and showed him her little thumb. He still didn’t entirely understand that gesture of hers, but thought it meant ‘you’re good’.

He returned her smile with one of his own to show he appreciated her confidence in him, then nodded to Hush.

“Open,” Hush commanded, his previous hack granting verbal command over basic functions.

The door slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a large office that screamed opulence—rich woods, gleaming surfaces, and a massive desk dominating the space. Ruin burst in, weapon trained on the figure seated behind the desk.

Gaius lunged forward, reaching for something. Ruin immediately fired off a warning shot that scorched the surface a hair’s breadth from Gaius's hand and froze him in place.

“Don't move,” Ruin growled.

The human sat back slowly, arms raised. Though his expression remained impressively composed, his throat bobbed in a hard swallow.

“Whatever your client is paying you, I can triple,” he declared, calculating blue eyes darting from Hush to Ruin and back again.

When no one answered, the room filled with the scents of sweat and fear.

“Secrets, then. I?—”

He cut short when Hush stepped close and pulled out another exceedingly illegal device their Quicksilk tech genius, Sway, made to collect a target’s biometrics. Keeping targets alive long enough to manually collect their bio-signatures was often messy, time consuming, and dangerous.

“On your feets,” Hush commanded, flicking his tail at the male.

Slowly and reluctantly, looking amusingly miffed at being ordered about, the male pushed out of the chair and stood. He eyed the gadget in Hush’s hand like it might bite him and jolted slightly when it emitted a faint, shimmering light.

The silence stretched, ratcheting the tension higher and higher. Finally, the device gave a soft trill. Catching Hush’s quick glance, understanding they had what they needed, Ruin hovered his finger over the trigger.

“Let’s not do something you’ll regret.” Light glinted off the sweat beading on Gaius’s forehead and within his black and grey, closely cropped hair. “I have secrets I’m sure your boss will find incredibly valuab?—”

The shot was loud in the enclosed space, the echo of it drowning out the sound of Gaius’s body hitting the floor, a neat hole burned through his forehead.

A noise from the doorway made his heart skip a beat, then plummet to his fucking boots.

He knew without peeking Lira was standing there. Would she be staring at him in shock, horrified that he’d just coldly executed someone? She’d seen him kill, but only in combat where his victims were armed or able to fight back.

Jaw tight, he holstered his weapon and turned, steeling himself for her reaction.

Except she wasn’t looking at him at all. She was peering around wide-eyed at the office.

Surprised but intensely relieved, the tension eased out of his shoulders and a strange warmth bloomed in his chest. He didn’tknow how to express how much he cherished that she was unafraid of him.

Following her gaze to see what had her so captivated, he took in the room.

When they’d first entered, he’d only given it a cursory glance, enough to check for threats and escape routes. Actually peering around now, he understood her wonder.

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