Page 97 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“I don’t know.” Sersie took a deep breath. The hard part was next. Images of him taking Flight returned. The damn cravings often struck without warning. His hands started to shake as it did in times of high stress.
Hannah guided his hands to her lips and kissed his palms. The shaking ceased. He just needed a few more seconds to memorize that loving expression on her face. . . before he destroyed it.
“I’m not the man you think I am. Before I came to Narkos. . . I created a drug for The Company. It’s why I was tasked with developing NK171 and Salvation. Hannah. . . I invented Flight.”
“Youinvented Flight? Flight killed my sister!”
He knew that she’d be horrified, but still it didn’t make it any less shocking when she pulled away from him. His heart sank, but she deserved to know it all. Every sordid detail of his messed-up life.
“Flight, originally designated as JL539, was supposed to be used to combat velagie beasts attacking colonies on Bodurn and Markell, but The Company tested my drug on humans, without my knowledge. When I learned humans were using Flight, The Company fed me a lie about how some dock workers used it, realized the potential and started selling it to humans. Per Company orders, I immediately set out to develop the antidote. Lift. I didn’t resist. I wanted to counteract the damage Flight was doing.”
“But Lift is hard to get hold of. . .” Her voice trailed off.
Is that how her sister had died? No access to Lift?
“The Company tested Flight on Argus and several other worlds, some in their sector, others not. And then turned around and started selling Lift at three, four times the cost to anyone who wanted to get their loved ones off of Flight. When I realized what was going on, I spoke out against The Company.”
“That’s when they sent Rissa in? To do damage control?”
“That was probably the main reason, but I guess they figured out controlling me was better than merely shutting me up. I thought I was in love with Rissa. She was great fun to be with, open to anything. Taught me a lot in bed, too. I was nineteen and didn’t think clearly when it came to her. She’d gotten hold of Flight, offered it to me. I resisted at first until I had too much to drink one night. She pulled out a stash of Flight during sex. . .”
Sersie released a deep breath. “I said yes without even thinking about it. Too damn drunk to think about it, honestly. I got hooked on my own drug. I should have gone to my lab, taken some Lift which is most effective in the first twenty-four hours after taking Flight. But I just remember being in bed with Rissa and using Flight. For days, Hannah. I couldn’t seem to tear myself away from her. Stupid, irresponsible—”
“She kept you there to ensure you’d be hooked. They used you. They’re still using you.”
Hell, had he really just told her everything? He sank against the wall. “You can’t tell anyone, Hannah. Not Vaughn, Ren, and definitely not Ky’Li.”
“They wouldn’t betray you.”
“Probably not, but they already don’t think much of me. ”
Her fingers wove through his hair.
“What if you just stopped, didn’t develop Salvation so they couldn’t distribute NK171?”
“The Company would assign someone else to develop Salvation. It would take them longer since I know NK171 better than anyone, but there are other chemists in The Company. And they’d lower me to a Level 5. They’d ship me out of here.”
“There has to be something we can do,” Hannah said, clearly frustrated over the no-win scenario that he had been wrestling with for a while.
“This isn’t just about me, Hannah. I may not be able to stop The Company, but I can slow them down.”
“I wish I could take that burden from you.”
“Just love me, Hannah. That’s what I need from you. Unconditional love.”
“You have that and more,” she whispered into his ear as she sank into his embrace.
Yes, Hannah was the only drug he’d ever take again. She was the only drug he’d ever need.
Chapter Eighteen
HANNAH
Another failed attempt to load the pod on docking bay two and yet Conway said nothing, did nothing other than shuffle the shipping schedule around. He explained the importance of ships not taking off with anything less than a full load.
While zurlite was the chief export, there were days were production slowed. Ships needed to take off on time. That meant going to the NRI warehouse. NRI—non-routine items—could be anything from a return of defective gas masks to the occasional export of local fruits.
Today’s NRI going in the damaged pod was listed as paddadou. From the look of the records, Narkos shipped a lot of paddadou, surprisingly, considering the fruit wasn’t all that tasty. Hannah’s first week on Narkos, she had eaten the green citrus for several days to avoid borrowing money from Sersie, Vaughn, and Ren, but she couldn’t imagine a demand for it. Given the cost of transport, the fruit would no longer be inexpensive to make it the least bit desirable.
