“I have books about how to play nicely with others,” Raquel told him. “They’re for a five-year-old, so probably right at your level.”
Shade snorted. It was hard to believe that Solan and Raquel had a child. They were the ones who needed to learn about fairness. And fucking safety. The kid probably played with knives and drank poison.
Solan’s teeth flashed at his wife’s jibe. They were in their cruiser—so anywhere in the galaxy.Great.
Their daughter was doubtless at home in Sector 6 with a caretaker, probably setting the house on fire.
“You want to lecture me about playing nice?” Shade asked, incredulous. “You threw a fucking firebomb at my head!”
Raquel’s don’t-give-a-shit shrug came with a little smile. “Your hair will grow back.”
It hadn’t been long to begin with, but it hadn’t beenthisshort.
“What do you want?” Shade asked, his molars grinding in the back. “I’m busy.”
“Too busy to go on the biggest hunt of our lives?” Solan asked.
Shade knew he needed to come up with a good excuse right now for not having moved yet, or they’d swoop down on Albion 5 and Tess. “I’m working on something already. It’s about my docks.”
“Yourdocks?” Solan asked.
“Fuck you,” Shade said.
Raquel glanced over her shoulder at her husband, tutting. “You know how sensitive he is about those towers.”
Solan barely had eyebrows, but they still went up. “All the more reason to go on this hunt. He could buy them all back tomorrow.”
Shade darted a look at Tess. They had no idea.
And Solan clearly wasn’t buying his story. He needed to add a layer.
“Since you’ve obviously put a tracking bug on my ship, you know I’m at the Star Palace Casino. I’ve got a meeting with Scarabin White.”
“Why? You don’t have the money,” Raquel said.
“I’ve got enough to make a decent offer,” Shade lied. “If he accepts, I’ll buy what I can on Albion 5, forget about the rock next door, and get out of the hunt. Never liked it anyway,” he muttered.
Solan leaned closer to the camera. “Or you go on one last hunt and buy it all. We can work the case together. We each take a third. With this prize, you can have everything you want and more.”
Not true. A third would only be enough if they doubled the bounty by turning over whatever it was that Tess had stolen.
And then there was the bonus for a live capture…
Shade shook his head. It didn’t matter. There’d be no splitting of anything. If he chose to, he’d take it all.
“If you’re calling me with that offer,” he said, “it means you have no idea where this woman is located.”
Raquel’s face pinched. She had two expressions: bland and bitch. He didn’t like either. “You’re the best tracker,” she grudgingly admitted.
“You need me,” Shade said. “I don’t need you. This conversation is over.”
They muted their voices but didn’t disconnect. Shade thought about hanging up on them, but they’d just call back.
“Half,” Raquel said when they unmuted the conversation again. “You get half, and we bring her in together.”
“That’s a pretty hypothetical half, since no one has a clue about the target,” Shade said. His eyes wanted to find Tess again. He forced them not to.
“Really?” Solan asked dubiously. “Nothing? No research? You haven’t been lookingat all?”
