Page 78 of Stars At Dusk

He waited for a beat as the data copied onto the drive. Then he slipped the small drive into his pocket before he crept out of the storage room again and walked away.

‘Really?’ Kage raged on, deeply rocked by what he’d seen. ‘Did he get anything of value?’

‘Mirage replaced the data. He thinks he’s got something useful, but she managed to input a load of non-sensitive encrypted material. Looks legit, but it’s nonsense, really.’

‘When did this happen?’

‘Less than an hour ago,’ Xion said. ‘Thought you’d be interested.’

Kage muttered a string of unintelligible curses. ‘I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt after I got an alert a few days ago.’

‘What alert?’

‘Three days ago, while still in bed, Mirage pinged me with word of an unauthorised dawn attempt to enter Harlow’s lab. I shut it down remotely. Then later that night, this same person tried to re-access the labs. Now here they are, confirming my worst suspicions.’

‘What now?’ Xion asked his friend.

‘I go hunting. Need to find out who he’s handing the drive to. Why would he do this, though?’

‘Perhaps he’s under pressure? From whom, is the question,’ Xion wondered.

‘I may have an idea, but damn, this sucks,’ Kage griped as he stalked away from the security team’s offices at The Sable Group’s Skylab. ‘Santefor the heads up, Xion.’

‘Good stalking, brother,’ Xion called back.

Moments later, Kage strode into his office, slamming the door behind him.

‘Mirage,’ he barked.

‘Naam, Kage. I’m right here.’

‘I want you to please patch a holo feed of our suspect to my comm tab. I’ll need eyes on him 24/7. And alert me when he leaves on the shuttle terminal this evening.’

‘Will do.’

Kage spent the rest of his day in a bad mood. He went as far as to avoid Harlow, reluctant to give her a taste of his dark.

He lost himself in his office, a black and grey minimalist space. The only colour in here came from the photos of his Rider brothers - on his desk, on the shelves. Images captured from their lifetime together, from boyhood to serving in the Eden City Guards and their various memories over the years on Eden II.

Screens dominated one wall and blinked with news holo feeds and the latest surveillance. At the centre of the room were a sizeable grey lounge and a vintage leather, easy chair where Kage often read late in his downtime. Beside it was a bar fridge and wine cooler packed with the best wines and spirits.

Additionally, along one wall was a luxe wall-mounted king-size lounge which was a stylish couch by day, converting in seconds into a comfortable and practical bed by night, where he often crashed when working late nights.

Right now, though, he was using the space to outwork his frustration. He flung files into piles on the floor. He cleared out all meetings in his day and ignored calls from his Heads of Business and Innovation. He kept clear of everyone; instead, he focused on brainless paperwork, from redesigning workflows to chasing the restocking of components, scheduling, and reviewing records of his labs’ many projects — anything to keep him blowing up the place with frustration.

‘Hi.’

A soft, husky voice cut through his black mood.

He looked up, and his dark cloud immediately lifted.

At the vision of the woman who’d already stolen his heart, standing at the doorway in a plain, simple jumpsuit, her face soft and hesitant.

Damn, she was gorgeous.

It was the first time Harlow had ever sought him out in his office, and he instantly knew it signalled a shift on her end, though he’d need time to decipher exactly what it meant.

‘Kara,’ he said quietly, inviting her in with a wave.

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