Page 64 of Rescued By the Convicts
With his arms crossed over his chest, Ivan said, “We’ll find another pilot. I’m not against kidnapping, especially if it gives us the advantage.”
Melina glanced from Zev to Ivan, not sure what the problem was now. “Why risk someone else when Zev can—”
“He’s not going with us,” Ivan said, cutting her off.
“I thought you two settled this.”
“I heard him out. I even agreed with his logic. But that doesn’t mean I trust him.”
“He’s coming with us,” she insisted as she rose from the sofa. “He’s part of our unit and you said it yourself, we don’t walk away from anyone in our unit.”
Ivan scrubbed his face. “Don’t put me in this position, Melina.”
Even if Zev didn’t love her, she couldn’t sacrifice him to Namir. “If we leave him here, Namir will catch him.”
The way Ivan’s muscles tensed, she knew he didn’t want that any more than she did. He was mad at Zev, but not enough to see him hurt, or worse, dead.
“How long before security reaches our level?” Ivan asked Reece.
‘Tomorrow night,’ Reece signed.
“I know how we can get past security,” Melina said as she removed the essence stone from her neck. “I stored a sample of the anti-serilium in here. The serum will only last a minute, but that should be enough to get each of us through security, right?
“It will be tight,” Zev said. “But yes, that would work.”
Melina sifted through the med-kit and spilled out a jar of disinfectant. As soon as she thoroughly cleaned the jar, she wrapped her hand around the essence stone and waited for the heat of her hand to extract the anti-serilium from the stone. The serum dripped into the jar. She capped it and held it to the light. She dabbed a single drop over her tatt and a small section of the yellow glow quickly faded. She timed how long it took before the section of the tatt reappeared. “It still works!”
“Do you have enough for all of us?” Jayce asked, looking at the small amount of liquid in the jar.”
Her heart sank. There wasn’t enough. “No.”
“How many?” Ivan asked.
“Four people.”
She looked at their faces and the reality there. “We’re all going, or none at all.”
Zev came over to her and rubbed her shoulders. “I love how you stood up for me earlier, Mel. It means the world to me. But sometimes not everyone makes it out. I’m staying behind.”
“But—”
He placed his fingers against her lips, silencing her. “You don’t have enough anti-serilium for everyone, and what you have will be spread thin enough. I’m staying on Little Horse. I’ll meet up with you, eventually.”
Reece started signing like mad. Zev clamped a hand on his shoulder. “You can’t, big guy. It doesn’t matter that Namir doesn’t know about you yet. That tattoo will give you away soon enough, and without a voice, you don’t stand much of a chance.”
“I’ll stay,” Jayce said, waving a casual hand. “I owe it to a few dozen women to save one, finally.”
“This isn’t the path toward redemption, Jayce,” Zev said.
“Sure, it is,” Jayce said with a smile. “Redemption and butterflies.”
“Butterflies?” Ivan’s eyebrows pinched together. “I think you need to go with the unit.”
“I’m not crazy, Ivan.”
“Never said you were. But you’re not exactly yourself right now either. Besides, they’ll need someone to find another ship at the next station, someone who can talk his way into a settlement somewhere where they overlook serilium tatts.”
Zev pressed past Melina. “You’d stay, Ivan? You just said you didn’t trust me to be with the unit.”
