Page 62 of Stealing Mercury
Lo spoke directly to Samantha. “Will you be able to fly their ship?”
Finally, something she knew she could handle. “If they can land it here, I can pilot it.”
Mercury squeezed her hand. “You’ll remain in this camp. We’ll come for you after they’re dead.”
She had no intention of waiting in safety. She might be a coward, but she wasn’t that kind of coward. And she’d really hoped they could avoid any killing. “They said something about a tracker. They’ll know where we are by now.” She looked up to the cloudless aqua expanse overhead and in her mind’s eye she could picture the ship skimming the planet’s atmosphere.
“She’s right,” said Carn. “The camp may not be safe.”
Lo spoke up. “If they can track us, they’ll know we’re coming to them. They’ll have the advantage.”
“Maybe not.” Samantha met Lo’s fire-flecked gaze. “If they needed to run the scan before landing, then they aren’t sure it will work once they reach the surface. It may be designed to bounce off a satellite—something this planet doesn’t have. Then again, the pilot could drop them off and return the ship to orbit. The ship could relay the info down to the men on the surface.”
“They’ll be too arrogant and too eager to hunt to believe that would be necessary,” said Lo.
“Tomorrow,” Mercury growled, “we take the fight to them.”
She knew her next words wouldn’t go over easy, but they had to be said. For Mercury, for them all. “You can’t kill them.”
Lo snarled. “You don’t know their cruelty.” His words were bitten off with remembered pain. Samantha flinched at the sound, but she knew now that his anger wasn’t directed at her. It only made her want to find a way to undo every terrible hurt done him.
Mercury wrapped a hand around her arm and spoke more quietly. “Do you care so much for them?”
She jerked her arm out of his grasp and huffed as angry heat flushed through her. “No! I don’t give a damn about them, but if you kill them, you’ll be wanted men. You’ll never be free.” And it would be more violence to weigh on their souls.
Lo’s growling faded. “We’re already escaped property to them, little Sam.”
She shook her head. “But maybe not in Gollerra. There’s only one crime the Golley-Alliance treaty recognizes as cause to hand someone over, and that’s the murder of each other’s citizens.”
Mercury reached for her slowly, cautiously, as if she were a sand-viper. He drew his palms down the length of her arms until he circled her wrists. “Then perhaps we steal their ship and leave them here, alive. Can we prevent them from alerting Roma?”
She took a deep, relieved breath and exhaled her agitation. “They’ve probably already alerted them to what’s happening now, but yeah, we can keep them from finding out you’re on your way back for Hera. The real question is, do you have a plan once you get there?”
“We’ll find a way. A way that will keep you safe.”
“We’re not far from Haverlee port. We could get help.” She realized she was pleading. It wasn’t as if she wanted them to abandon Carn’s mate, but it wouldn’t do the woman any good if they got themselves killed trying to get to her.
“We,” Lo raged, voice dripping with venom, “don’t need the help of humans.”
Mercury released her and put himself between her and the others. “We’d still be in cages if this human hadn’t helped us.”
Samantha could hear Lo panting with anger. She squeezed Mercury’s shoulder and edged around him, stopping within touching distance of Lo.
She rubbed her hands on her pants legs to keep from reaching out. “I only wanted to help.”
“You’re different,” Lo snapped then shook his head as if clearing his thoughts. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“I wasn’t afraid.” From the moment she’d realized his anger served to shield his pain, her fear had started to lessen. She didn’t know when it had disappeared completely, but she knew now that it was gone.
He frowned, tiny lines disturbing the beauty of his features.
She pressed her lips together, biting her lip as she searched for some way to reach him. “I can’t pretend to know what your life has been like, but I do understand the hopelessness of having all roads to a better existence blocked against you. I understand going without the things others take for granted. I understand betrayal.” She took a deep breath. It was important that she think about her words before she said them. When she made a promise she made sure it meant something. “I’m nothing like the people who hurt you, Lo. I’m not perfect, but there’s one thing you can count on, I’ll never betray your trust.”
Lo reached out and took her hand. He glanced over her shoulder to where Mercury stood at her back, then pulled her hand to rest over his heart.
***
Mercury directed everyone to prepare for tomorrow. Samantha slipped easily into the rhythm of the team as they worked in silence. A silence that gave him plenty of time to contemplate the coming challenge and all that was at stake. He had time to reflect on the determined set of Samantha’s chin as she’d spoken to them from her heart of loyalty and betrayal.
