“We’re good to go,” he answered. “At least to Miko’s new coordinates.”
I nodded. Now we waited for the other two. Usually, I’d just have told them to brace themselves for a jump, but right now, with the Dark Watch threatening to fire on our back end, I wanted everyone up front on the bridge.
The bridge was also where we could access the ship’s escape pods, if it came to that—not that I believed they’d do us much good.
Every second lasted an eternity with the warshipDW 12and Captain Bridgebane breathing down theEndeavor’s comparatively minuscule neck. I stood there. I didn’t shake. I didn’t move. My head felt numb. But I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Not in fear, although there was plenty of that, too. No, it wasrageboiling in my chest.
Shiori rushed through the bridge doors, her fingers gliding along the wall. Miko ran to her grandmother and quickly guided the older woman toward my abandoned chair. With her good arm, Miko practically threw the tiny Shiori into my captain’s seat, strapped her in, and then locked the chair back down, not leaving me much room at my console.
Miko raced back to her navigation controls. Shiori reached out to me blindly.
“I think I got us into big trouble,” I said, taking her fragile hand.
Her skin felt paper-thin and dry and looked almost unhealthy, the creamy tan shade of it having faded into something pasty from lack of sunlight. The veins stood out, and her tremor seemed worse, but Shiori squeezed my fingers with surprising strength. “We’ve been ghosts for five years already, child. You gave us many more days.”
The heat of unwanted emotion crawled up my throat just as my console delivered new information with a warning signal.Incoming cruiser—starboard side. 200 meters.
I glanced at Jax. “We can’t wait.” Fiona was going to have to deal with taking a fall.
He nodded, and I grabbed the edge of my console for balance.
“Go!” I cried.
Jax hit the small, round button that had saved our lives countless times, and everything went dark and weightless as theEndeavorshot through space. My bones seemed to crunch and shudder and then pop back to normal again as the ship slowed almost immediately. That was the shortest jump of my life.
I shook my head to clear it and then studied the view outside the bridge’s windows again.
Mighty Powers That Be…The Black Widow was all I could see.
“You’re certifiable, Tess,” Jax murmured.
Yeah. I kind of had to agree.
I swallowed hard. “They won’t follow.”
The outside com blared like that awful prison whistle again, sending through Bridgebane’s now-furious voice. “Captain Bailey, you are under military arrest. Jump again, and all crew members on board theEndeavorwill be deprived of a trial. Our boarding cruiser jumped after you, andDW 12followed. Prepare for entry on your starboard side.”
I cursed. How could I have forgotten that Bridgebane would do anything for the Overseer?
Fiona burst onto the bridge, spitting mad. She was barefoot and wearing leggings and a tank top, which probably meant she’d been in a hazmat jumpsuit only a few moments earlier. If she’d had to get out of it before leaving her secure experimentation lab, it was no wonder she hadn’t shown up in time for the jump. At least she’d listened to me and hadn’t stopped to collect her specimens. Botanists got really attached to their plants.
“What the hell is going on?” Fiona stalked toward me, her high, dark ponytail swinging angrily as she walked. “I just cracked my head on the wall when you dragged me out of my lab and thenjumpedwithout even telling me to brace myself. And just when I was getting close to making a breakthrough with those new cure-alls, too. I’m even wondering if they can cure Shiori’s blindness. They’re full of good stuff—like, superpower stuff.”
“Those vaccines just got us followed practically into the mouth of a black hole,” I said, motioning toward the bridge windows.
Fiona looked around, and her eyes widened at the sight of so much absolute darkness.
“Holy shit!” She gaped at me. “Are you crazy?”
I gave a small shrug. “The Dark Watch was breathing down our neck.”
“The Dark Watch is always breathing down our neck!”
“Yeah. Well, this time, they’re trying to board theEndeavoras we speak, and a warship got close enough to get visual confirmation on the stolen lab.”
“So jump the hell out of 14!” Fiona cried.
“Wecan’t. We’ve been leaping almost nonstop for three days, and theEndeavor’s power is too low to do anything other than play cat and mouse around the Sector until we completely run out of juice.”
