Page 39 of Rescued By the Convicts
“This isn’t personal. It’s business. Hawke wanted you. Simple as that. A few months working for him, and then he gives me a free ticket off-planet, without the tatt. Hawke can get rid of it for me. I’ll be a free man. Freer than Ivan and Jayce, who will have to work for it off-planet, in conditions not as hospitable as here.”
“I can get rid of the tatt,” she said, an inkling of a plan forming in her head. “I developed an extract. It will make the tattoo disappear for up to a minute, long enough to get you past security at any port.”
Zev ran his fingers through her hair, then showed her his wrist. His tatt was gone! “So naïve,” he said as he pressed his lips to hers one last time before calling out to the leader. “Hey, Hawke. You were right. What she developed will fade the tatts. Fade time up to one minute.”
“One minute? Really?” Hawke said, sounding intrigued as he looked at the vial he’d taken from her pocket. “I guess she’ll have to tell me all about it before I fuck her. Have Lucas put her in my room.”
Chapter Nine
IVAN
Ivan sat in a room with Jayce and two other men. O’Keefe and Gant. Rapists and murderers who would kill anyone, anywhere, for the right price. Or even for a gun. They were the type of unhinged men a master criminal would want doing his dirty work because they didn’t care about crossing any lines, political, moral, or other.
With his back to the wall, and Jayce sitting opposite him, Ivan watched the other men lounging on the mattresses on the floor, calmly waiting for the next transport off Veenith.
“Smart move, Perilov,” O’Keefe said. “Giving up that pussy to get off-planet. Plenty of pussy out there.”
Ivan forced his hands to remain open and relaxed on his thighs as he leaned against the wall. Every bone in his body wanted to run out of here, find Melina, and hide her someplace safe. He never should have agreed to this deal. The price of escaping, of helping Zev find the next link in the organization, was simply too high.
“It was a good trade,” Jayce said, staring at the wall to Ivan’s left. Jayce was staring at a crack in the wall. He had done everything Ivan had asked, despite his objections. He hadn’t wanted to risk Melina, and yet Ivan had left him no choice. Zev needed this, and Zev assured him that Melina would be protected.
Right now, Ivan wasn’t so sure Zev could pull that off. Ivan had heard Hawke talking to Zev and Melina. Hawke was taking her to his quarters. He’d assault her, and he’d be the first of many if Zev couldn’t get her away.
Where was Reece? Had Zev been lying to Ivan after all and was working for Hawke? This could have been an elaborate ruse to take Melina and get rid of Ivan and Jayce, something Hawke had been trying to do since she arrived on Veenith.
“I’m like Danning now. Wesoldher, Ivan.”
Shit. Danning and his human trafficking. Is that what Jayce had been pulled into? “We had no choice.”
“She forgave me even though she didn’t know what I did for Danning. I should have told her. She would have run from us. She would have been safe.”
“No, she wouldn’t have.” Ivan knew she would have forgiven Jayce, because she had such great capacity to forgive, to love. He hoped she’d understand when this was over, that they’d done this to help Zev, and ultimately remove the threat of Hawke. Though even now it seemed ironic that to remove Hawke, they had given the man the object of his desire. . . Melina.
This operation better fucking work or Ivan would kill Zev right after he tore Hawke apart limb by limb.
Jayce fell silent again. Eerily so. From the second they’d entered the room, he’d withdrawn. Maybe it was something about the disintegrating walls or the cold chill of the cement that reminded him of his time with Danning. Either way, Jayce wasn’t doing well.
“Hold it together, Jayce. Just a little while longer,” Ivan said, taking slow, controlled breaths of his own. Melina had looked crushed when Jayce had handed her over to Hawke. And then Ivan had hurt her by telling her she’d never mattered to any of them. He’d put on the show for Hawke and his men, but the price was too high, especially if Zev couldn’t get her away in time.
What if Zev had betrayed them?
“Hey, you, Perilov,” Finch, one of Hawke’s top men, called from the doorway. “Transport’s early. You and Ladas need to get moving if you’re going to make it on board before it leaves. Short window before takeoff.”
O’Keefe and Gant had already moved out. Ivan extended his hand to haul Jayce to his feet, but Jayce pulled his legs in tighter.
“One hundred-sixty-seven,” Jayce said. “I sold them all. Now it’s one hundred sixty-eight.”
“We talked about this, Jayce. We’re getting off Veenith. Sacrifices needed to be made. Let’s get the fuck out of here and ensure things go as planned.” Ivan emphasized the last words while glaring at Jayce, willing him to look up.
Green eyes, dull and distant, rose. Ivan had seen this before. Shell-shock. PTSD. The experts had a million names for it when a soldier lost himself to the stress, to the memories. Jayce had never served in battle, but he’d lived in a perpetual war every day since they were kids.
Already, this operation was falling apart. Jayce was unpredictable at this point, and Melina—Ivan’s brave woman—was in the hands of a monster. Ivan no longer knew if he could trust Zev. As for Reece, the man should have been here by now. Had he been intercepted and killed by Hawke’s men? At some point, Ivan might have to leave Jayce and go after Melina, but that would be a death sentence for Jayce.
“Look at that, Ivan,” Jayce said with a sense of wonder in his voice. “It’s snowing. In Turul. I can’t remember when that ever happened.”
That’s because he’d never seen it. And they weren’t in Turul on Argus.
* * *
