Page 34 of Auctioned to the Convicts
There was a flash of hope in his face as he finally met her eyes, but she didn’t get the impression it had anything to do with Lift.
“I can whip up a batch,” he said.
“You can?”
“Yes, he can,” Renzel said.
Hannah stiffened the moment she heard Renzel’s voice. The man stood in the doorway, his body not as tense or angry as earlier but not fully relaxed either.
“He’s a chemist as well as a botanist. His lab has Flight and other drugs on hand because Sersie and his team develop the medicines that counter Flight, Crash, and the other drugs plaguing the sector. How do you think Narkos got its name? Not because of the zurlite. The zurlite is only part of the operation here. The jungle is rich with resources, which makes the few botanists here, like Sersie, The Company’s most valuable resources, more valuable than you, Princess.”
Hannah peered past Renzel to see if Ky’Li was there, making sure the engineer didn’t harm her.
“Your boyfriend’s fast asleep. Didn’t stir when I opened the door.”
“You went in there?” Hannah asked, surprised Renzel would take that risk. Then again, the man didn’t seem to fear Ky’Li.
“I was looking for you,” he said.
She leaned closer to Sersie, though the man was too high to help her if needed. “Is V-Vaughn back?”
“Let me guess. You’d rather have him in here than me.”
She nodded.
“He went to the med-center for supplies. Given how your boyfriend’s out, I’m guessing Vaughn slipped him something earlier. Vaughn wields those drugs like a miner swings a pick-ax.”
“I’m not sure what that means.”
“It means Vaughn’s not afraid to hit hard and fast when he needs to.”
“Are you trying to warn me, Renzel? Scare me away from Vaughn by making me think he’s dangerous?”
“Everyone here is dangerous, Princess. Not just me. And you better learn that before you find yourself dead or worse.” Those striking blue eyes of Renzel’s softened as he looked at Sersie. “They put a drug addict in charge of one of the best-stocked labs in the sector. Sersie can create any medicine or any drug for the med-center or himself. He’s been clean for nearly a year.”
Ren didn’t say it, but she could read it in his face. He blamed her for this.
“I didn’t know.”
“Of course not, but it doesn’t change reality. Sersie’s not ready to be in a unit. Any more than I am.”
“He wanted it.”
“That doesn’t mean he was ready for it. Too late now. We’ll all have to live with the consequences.”
Yes, they would. But Sersie. . . If she had known what this would do to him, she wouldn’t have chosen him.
“Why would The Company put a drug addict in charge of a lab where he can cook his own drugs?”
“The same reason they put an engineer down in the mines to ensure the safety of thousands of men after he caused the collapse of the mine on Barlis. The same reason they put a doctor in a med-center where he’s doomed to repeat his mistake. Scratch that, where heisrepeating his mistake, betting that he won’t get caught a second time. And the same reason you’re at the port working inventory. I’m guessing you screwed up a shipment somewhere along the way.”
“Something like that,” she said, clenching her jaws shut so she wouldn’t divulge what he didn’t need to know.
“The Company wants us to fail, Princess, at least those of us with the skills they need.”
“That makes no sense. The Company doesn’t benefit if a chemist can’t perform his duties, or if an engineer can’t prevent an avoidable catastrophe.”
He smirked, briefly. “Nice words. Most people don’t see it that way.”
