Page 109 of Stars in Umbra
‘Tis not your faith in me I question, tis the command itself, so brutal and callous.’
She lifted a chin and waited for the ire in his eyes to subside before he whispered.
‘The Riders.’
She let out a strangled breath. ‘Foookkkk.’
He gave a bleak nod. ‘I saidnada. My loyalty to them meant I wouldn’t, couldn’t do it. I resisted. It almost killed me. They sensed it and hit me with neural punishment so bad I bled out of myfokkin’ ears.’
Rina winced. ‘I hate that for you. So you ran.’
‘Naam. I fought the commands like a mofo, took a Corvette, and bolted. I only had enough fuel to take me from Eden II to Dunia. I thought I’d hide in the jungle belt east of here. Thought I could outrun the signal.’
Her hands tightened around her arms.
‘But they found you.’
‘Thekinaiscaught me when my helmet battery ran out of power, and their beacons and drones were able to track me. They hunted me down like an animal and tranquilized me. Tortured me. Dragged me into their hovercraft to take me back to whoever owns my leash.’
He glanced down at the floor. ‘I pulled some inner strength together and broke free mid-air. Ripped out the restraints. Used some of my otherworldly power to blow a hole into their engines, and just as their gunship exploded, I jumped, without a care if I died. Now, though I’m here, alive, and they’re still going to come after me, and the Riders. I can’t let that happen.’
‘Where are they now, do you know?’ Rina murmured.
‘I do,’ he cut in. ‘They’re on planet. Whoever ‘they’ are. Their operational base is somewhere on Dunia.’
Rina’s eyes narrowed. ‘How do we find them?’
Mo turned, lifting his hand and tapping the back of his neck again.
‘The node. It’s transmitting. Or it was. It’ll be linked to a control hub, probably traceable if we extract it intact.’
‘Dig it out?’ Her voice went flat. ‘As in, surgery?’
‘Naam. It has to be clean, with such precision that my handlers won’t know it’s out of my brain. Which is why this is the optimal location for it.’
‘In here in secret? Inside a Dunian military barracks?’
‘Naam,’ Mo growled, raising his chin. ‘I can’t risk the locator sending a signal, so I can’t move, so it has to be done here. With the Rider’s best weapon.’
Her brows furrowed. ‘Weapon?’
He met her gaze with a grim kind of clarity. ‘Mirage.’
Rina stiffened. ‘You want the Riders’ AI to open your skull and pull out a buried kill switch that may or may not explode the instant it’s touched?’
Mo offered a shrug laced with gallows-like humor.
‘I told you. I’m making this up as I go.’
‘So will this node lead us to them?’
‘It should have an originating signal we can use to locate them, or rather, Mirage. She has the processing power to sweep the entire galaxy.’
‘Suppose if it turns out to be a trap?’
His mouth curved into a slow, dangerous smile. ‘Then we walk in guns blazing.’
For a moment, they stared at one another.
