Page 16 of Courting Mayhem

Papi Sten shot him a look of disgust. “You hired us for our expertise. Let us do our job.”

“Take them back to the Magic Kingdom,” Zarek instructed.

Derek clamped his right arm to his chest. “As you command, my lord.”

Zarek teleported away.

“Wuss,” I said.

One dark brow cocked arrogantly, Derek said, “If we’re going to stop Vrax from selling the Shebu, we don’t have time for games.”

“Doing a proper investigation, isnota game,” Poppa Jacob countered.

Derek eyed him for a moment. “We’ll take a shuttle to the surface.”

“Excuse me, Mister War Commander, but my fathers need their gauntlets back.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Derek walked over to the control console and pressed his palm against the sensor pad. A wall panel slid back revealing secure lockers. “Your gauntlets are inside the first locker.”

My fathers quickly retrieved them.

“Zarek has our“get out jail”program,” I advised them.

Poppa Jacob’s mouth tightened into a hard line. “What else did you tell him?”

“That you are a talented hacker,” I replied.

Derek butted in, “What other devices did you borrow from Zan?”

We all stared at the war commander in surprise. Shit, he could hear us mind talk.

“Only what was necessary to complete our mission,” Papi Sten answered.

“Rumor has it the stolen fighter had a cloaking device that projected illusions and a weapons system that could punch through any shield. The cloaking device and weapons system mysteriously vanished after you returned the prototype,” Derek said.

Pasting an astonished look on my face, I said, “No kidding. I didn’t know that. Did you Papi Sten?”

“General Zan never said a word about a missing cloaking device.” Papi Sten fastened his gauntlet on.

Derek let out an ill-tempered growl. “Your ship isn’t a pieced together pile of junk, is it?”

“It gets us where we want to go,” Poppa Jacob said evasively.

“I can’t wait to tour your ship,” Derek said.

“Who said you got a tour.” I darted out the door and called over my shoulder, “Times a wastin’.”

“We will discuss this further,” Derek snapped.

“Whatever you say, War Commander.” I hurried over to the lift with Derek right on my heels. He wasn’t letting me out of his sight.

Derek tapped the control panel. The doors whooshed open. My fathers, and I crowded into the lift. “What deck?”

Derek squeezed in. “Deck eight.” The lift zoomed down.

The lift doors opened revealing a heavily guarded landing bay. Talon fighters and shuttles were lined up in neat rows. I let out a whistle. “I’ve always wanted to fly a Talon.”

“You’re a pilot?” Derek seemed surprised.

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