The hooded figure of the emperor faced down another man as the two stared at each other silently. Joule and Ziva stood at the mouth of the hallway, their stances tentative as if they didn’t know whether to retreat or stand their ground.
“Famous last words,” Jin crooned softly.
Kira flicked him an irritated look as a young girl who looked a few years younger than Joule ducked her head out of one of the access panels in the cargo hold ceiling.
Short hair the color of gold framed a mischievous face. The pert nose and pointed chin lent her an air of adorableness that was deceptive as Kira’s niece grinned and waved.
Kira lifted a hand in greeting, looking at the man standing opposite the emperor under Elena’s perch in the ceiling, his arms folded in an unmistakable sign of challenge.
“What’s going on?” Kira asked.
She recognized the look of appraisal on Raider’s face. It was the one he got whenever Himoto or a commander tried to stuff new soldiers into their team.
It never worked. Mostly because Raider was an intimidating son of a bitch when he wanted to be. The few times he’d failed to scare the prospective hopefuls off, Maverick or Bayside had done the job for him.
The military was one giant game of chicken. Flinch and you were out.
Given the dangerous missions they undertook, the Curs couldn’t afford any but the best and bravest at their back. Their numbers might have been few, but every person in the squad had been mighty.
Raider tilted his head at the other man in question. “Why is he here?”
“Graydon asked me for a favor,” Kira said, hoping he would leave it at that.
She wasn’t too sure how much Raider suspected of the other’s identity. He wasn’t privy to Jin’s eye color and wouldn’t automatically jump to the conclusion the two were related.
The only time they’d met was in the aftermath of the battle for Almaluc where Raider had been understandably distracted by Elise’s circumstances.
He might not have known the identity of the hooded figure.
If so, Kira wasn’t going to tell him. He could figure it out on his own.
Raider grunted, his expression guarded as he ignored the emperor to focus on Elena above them. The motion highlighted the faint scar that ran along his chin.
“You.” Raider jabbed a finger at Elena and then the floor.
Jin made a choked sound of disbelief before reversing direction, shooting out of the cargo bay and abandoning Kira in the process.
Kira wished she could go with him as she eyed the mulish expression on Elena’s face which was a replica of the one she’d seen dozens of times on Raider’s features. Her friend didn’t know it, but he’d met his match in his daughter.
Something Kira was looking forward to him discovering. On his own. When she was far away.
Elena’s head disappeared back into the ceiling. A frustrated growl left Raider.
His eyes practically glowed with irritation as he fixed a dark gaze on Kira. “Fix this.”
There was a deceptive edge to his voice that he used to get when someone challenged him. It was the one that said his patience had reached its end.
Corrective action would have been his next step.
Except this was his daughter he was dealing with. He couldn’t treat her the way he had his soldiers.
The sooner he learned that the better off they’d all be.
“And how am I supposed to do that?” Kira asked carefully, not wanting his anger to spill over onto her.
“Convince her to come down.”
Elena’s head popped out of the ceiling. “He tried to ground me.”
