Page 10 of Rescued By the Convicts
“Not when they released you.”
“They drew their blasters. Two escorted me out. I’ll take a knife for you, but I’m not getting fried with a blaster.”
Hawke’s hand ran alongside the blade he always kept inside his coat. “We need another approach. Get me into the bunker.”
Zev rubbed at the tattoo that branded him a prisoner. “Can’t. Jayce removed my access. I already tried getting in there. You could try another ambush. With enough men you could—”
“Too risky after last time. Perilov will be expecting that, and he’s got friends here. She’s useless to me if she gets caught in the crossfire.”
Zev pressed against the healing stab wound. The site itched like crazy. He needed this asshole to trust him if he was going to discover Hawke’s contact.
“From what I’ve heard, she’s not the only woman ever sent here. If you wait, another one will arrive eventually. Maybe you can prod Thorne for information,” Zev suggested.
Hawke scowled. “What the fuck makes you think I can walk up to Thorne and ask anything?”
Zev didn’t dare lower his eyes. Hawke didn’t put up with weak men. He disposed of them.
“I’m not a fucking moron, Hawke. You have solar panels. No one else has those, not even the guards. You have something on Thorne. If you can demand solar panels, you can get a Level 5 woman sent here from Tarcliss or Narkos. Thorne’s got connections. Every fucking manager has connections in The Company. He had a doctor here from Narkos last month working in the med-center with Archer.”
“I’m not waiting. This one’s mine. You want to prove yourself to me, Winfield? Then get me the woman. I don’t care what you have to do, but get it done before you find yourself four feet under the snow.”
Chapter Three
MELINA
“That’s all Zev said?” Ivan asked as he stood across from Melina’s bed with his arms crossed over his chest. She was dead tired after a long shift and the emotional upheaval of treating all those men in the med-center today. She hadn’t even been able to give Zev a proper goodbye.
“That was it. Can I go to sleep now? I’m drained.”
“In a minute.” Ivan wasn’t satisfied with her answers. He needed more intel to figure out what Zev was up to. She wished she had it to give.
Reece remained in the door, huge muscles completely still, hazel eyes set and his handsome face full of worry. Zev and he were close in a way she wondered if she’d ever be with Zev or Reece. With any of the men here, really. They’d all risked their lives for her, but there were times she doubted the reason behind it. She shouldn’t doubt them, but something in the back of her mind troubled her, though she couldn’t identify what exactly.
It was the strain of Zev being gone, she realized. Of not knowing what he was really doing on Veenith and who he was doing it for. The logical guess would be The Company since they owned and controlled the prison planet. But they didn’t need to send a spy into their own prison when they could gas the entire planet and kill all the prisoners, and no one would know. Or care.
Except The Company needed the serilium, which meant they needed the prisoners to mine.
Another company or military, then. One that planned to claim Veenith and all the serilium on it. They would need intel before trying to take the planet. It wouldn’t be the first time companies had fought over Veenith. The bunker her unit presently occupied had been built twenty years ago when The Empire tried to claim Veenith as its own. This and a string of a dozen other bunkers that surrounded the valuable serilium mines had been abandoned years ago. Jayce had learned about them while hacking into Thorne’s files.
“What if Zev is working for The Empire?” she asked.
“We’ll never know,” Ivan said.
“They chip their citizens and their slaves. I missed my chance to look for a chip when he was at the med-center.”
“I doubt he would have let you look. Or that he’d even have one if he’s a spy. Spies will do anything to blend in.”
“Like allow themselves to be tattooed with serilium. . .”
Reece’s eyes shot up and his brows pursed. Angry, so angry lately, her gentle and silent giant. He’d stopped his reading lessons after Zev left. Reece had been making so much progress reading and writing too. Part of her wondered if it was more than Zev’s leaving bothering Reece. That’s why he needed to continue his lessons, so he could communicate better. Ivan had been quick to learn a lot of Reece’s signs, but he wasn’t as proficient as Zev.
“He may never come back to us, Melina,” Ivan said, his searing blue eyes watching her with an intensity she’d become used to.
“Of course, Zev will come back,” she said. She couldn’t think like Ivan, expecting the worst. As the head of their unit, he had to consider all the possibilities and how they’d affect the unit, but she didn’t.
She dragged her eyes back to Reece. “Zev’s not a quitter. He’ll find a way back to us. We have to be patient and have faith.”
“What the fuck!” Jayce yelled from down the hall. Reece leaned into the corridor and chuckled.
