Page 93 of Stealing Mercury
“Well, then. Bring her in. Maybe she’s in the mood for some ping.” Samantha propped a hip against the ping table and crossed one booted foot over the other.
The officer led the woman into the room. She gave her name as Rachel. Samantha took note of the mink brown hair she wore loose around her shoulders. She held her head in a way that made the hair fall artfully over one side of her face, but scars snuck out of hiding to trace across her nose and lips. Someone had clawed the woman’s face. Some Dog. She had a terrible feeling she knew exactly who.
Even with the scars, Rachel was attractive. The slashes had been shallow, at least where Samantha could see them. They hadn’t done any structural or nerve damage. The woman wore an evening dress that bared a lot of cleavage. It might have been a tactic to distract people from the scars. The dress synched tight around a narrow waist and a slit in the skirt showed enough leg to have theGwendella’sofficer acting like a schoolboy.
Samantha didn’t offer to shake her hand. “I’ve never understood how women manage not to fall out of dresses like that.”
“Practice. And adhesive.” Rachel’s gaze swept the room before coming back to Samantha. “But I didn’t come here to talk fashion.”
Samantha said nothing, leaving the other woman to fill the silence.
Rachel adjusted a bag that hung from her shoulder. “I know you’re the one who freed Diablo, Mercury, and Carnage.”
Samantha shrugged, all cool on the outside. Inside her mind spun, searching for a plan. “That’s what the bulletins claim, but you shouldn’t believe everything you read. Can I ask how you found me?”
“I know they’re here. I saw Lo and I knew you had to be the one to bring them back. I checked all the ships that landed today. I did some cross checks and this seemed the most likely one.”
A fist twisted in Samantha’s chest. “You saw Lo?” She shoved her hands behind her to hide the fact she’d started to shake.
“Near the kennels. I don’t think anyone else saw him. They’re going after Hera aren’t they?”
“Hera?” Samantha fought to keep her expression blank.
“Carn’s mate.”
“He has a mate?”
Rachel shook her head. “We don’t have time for games. Owens expected they’d try to get Hera out. I don’t think he expected you to come so soon, but the point is—”
Samantha pushed away from the ping table and crossed her arms over her chest. “A point? That would be good.”
“He moved her. Hera isn’t at the kennel anymore.”
“And?” And Samantha knew there would be no way her men would come back empty-handed. Funny how they’d all become hers, even Carn. She hated her fear over how things might change when they brought Hera back. They had to come back.
“I can take you to her.”
“Me?” Samantha laughed, but she knew it sounded hollow. “And I’m supposed to blindly follow you? Owens must think I’m stupid.”
“I didn’t tell him when I saw Lo.” Rachel tapped the toe of her pointy shoe. “If I had, they would have everything on lockdown. Owens would’ve already dragged you off this ship. But he doesn’t know about the Dogs being here and he doesn’t know that your father was pals with the owner of this ship. He hasn’t bothered to look that deeply into your background.”
“But you know, because?”
“Sevti. I’m working with the resistance.” Rachel fingered the strap of her bag again. “I can help you. And unless you have some way to contact the Dogs without alerting Roma, you’re going to have to be the one to do this. I tried to get the resistance to help, but Sevti was my only contact, and he broke transmission before I could explain. Now he’s missing. They’re likely questioning him. You might not be safe here long enough to wait for the Dogs to find her on their own.”
Samantha pushed her fear for Sevti aside. She would tell the captain, beyond that she could do nothing to help him. Samantha uncrossed her arms and reached for a ball from the ping table. She closed her hand around the cool green surface. They were unlikely to reach Mercury—a downside of the scatter-shield. She wasn’t yet ready to trust Rachel, but she might not have a choice. “Lo gave you those scars.”
Rachel pulled her hair forward in a gesture that looked subconscious.
Samantha twisted the ping ball in her hand. “You betrayed him.”
“I needed him to attack me, so I provoked him.” Rachel shifted in her fashionably hazardous heels.
“Why?” Samantha set the ball spinning on the table. She wanted to slug the women who’d used Lo so callously.
“Owens was beginning to suspect me. When Lo attacked me, it put all his suspicions to rest.”
Samantha huffed. “You’re insane.”
