Page 31 of Rescued By the Convicts
“I’m not after Hawke.”
“You joined him, so I figured—”
“He has access to information and people here. Joining his unit was a necessity.”
“Thorne,” Ivan offered next. “He has to be involved, especially since—” Ivan cut himself off.
“Since what?”
“Section B,” Ivan said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
“I already know about Section B. And about the properties of the spindle tree spores.”
Ivan said nothing, didn’t ask any questions as a soldier who wanted intel would. He simply stood there, arms crossed over his chest, blue eyes staring.
“You fucking sent Reece in there to work, didn’t you?” Ivan said, his anger suffusing his words. “When I first arrived, Reece was working in the mines. Then you arrived nine months ago, and he got transferred to a hunting detail and Section B between hunts.”
“He’s the best shot they have.”
“And how the fuck would you have known that, Zev? It’s not like Thorne gives miners rifles to extract the serilium, and Reece isn’t much of a talker, even with the sign language he uses. You targeted him before you even arrived, didn’t you? You found the perfect prisoner to befriend. A loner, a fucking mute who couldn’t speak for himself but had the skills to be on a hunting party, which meant gaining extra duties in the greenhouse. Section B. He spied for you without even knowing it.”
“Yes.” Did that make him a bastard, as Ivan’s tone implied? Probably. But that’s what Zev had been trying to tell Ivan, Melina, Jayce, and Reece. He was on Veenith to do a job, not bind himself to a unit for life.
“She loves you. I’m not sure why, with all your lies, but she does. And you’re hurting her by not telling her what she needs to know. You’re going to walk away and never come back.”
“Then why the fuck did you skip her middle finger when you ringed her? You intentionally left that spot open for me, giving her false hope that I’d return to her.”
Ivan moved fast for a man his size, really fast. In seconds, he was in Zev’s face. “Because she needs you.”
And Zev needed her, more than he could tell Ivan or even Melina. Zev steeled his emotions, locking them away where they couldn’t cloud his judgment.
“Someone’s letting murderers, violent criminals, off of Veenith and enabling them to blend in all over the sector. And not simply to keep the peacekeepers busy.”
“I get it. You have a job to do. Well, so do I, and that’s protecting my unit. Which still includes you.”
Zev was shocked that Ivan still thought of him as part of his unit. “Then you’ll help me?” he asked, his tone amazingly even despite the sense of belonging he felt. Fuck, he had to keep his emotional distance from Ivan. . . from all of them. But he needed Ivan, and Ivan hadn’t even heard Zev’s plan yet.
“Liden took Melina. Interrogated her,” Ivan said, his face revealing the man’s anger and worry. Zev swallowed, afraid to ask what they’d done to her.
“You’re not even going to ask how she is?” Ivan asked, ticked off.
Zev finally understood Ivan better. . . The man would do anything for Melina, including putting up with Zev. “Whatever I say won’t change the facts.”
“You’re a cold bastard, Zev.”
Agreed.
“She’s shaken, but for the most part fine,” Ivan continued. “Thorne’s sending a clear message to all of us. We believe Liden stuffed her into a garbage bag at the greenhouse. She can’t recall part of her disappearance, but she sure as hell didn’t stuff herself in that bag. Powell ordered Reece to dump the garbage in Mine #17, on my level.”
“Some coincidence,” Zev said sarcastically.
“This message was blatant. No question about it. Reece had no idea she was inside the bag. He followed orders, which is how she ended up naked in the mine. Reece escaped with her, but it was close. Too fucking close.”
And that explained why Ivan was working slag duty. He’d fought to give Reece and Melina a chance to escape. No doubt he left many miners too injured to work which interrupted production, the one cardinal sin when it came to life on Veenith.
Zev tried to focus on the intricacies of all the players and not think about what had happened to Melina, what could have happened to her. . . what might yet happen to her. Zev would love to leave Melina out of the equation, except she was right in the fucking middle of it.
“I believe Thorne is low level in all of this, taking orders from someone else. But if they went to all that trouble to warn you, Ivan, you’re in danger. All of you.”
