“I’ve got a live one,” I said, informing the crew of my find.
“Try to destroy it,” Jax said. “If that doesn’t work, toss it hard.”
I took hold of the device and detached the transmitting bug with a sharp twist. It was a discreet, sophisticated little thing. I never would have seen it if the wand hadn’t led me to the right place. It was probably Shade’s, considering how well it matched the ship.
Envisioning Shade’s deceitful face, I hauled off and smashed the bug against the side of the ship.
The result was thoroughly unsatisfactory. It didn’t get out any of my anger or hurt, and in space, with a big, bulky space suit on, I didn’t move well enough for a really hard hit. The intact tracker kept transmitting, and my wand kept up its frenzied beeps.
Sourly, I informed Jax that smashing it hadn’t worked.
“Then throw it the fuck away, Tess.”
Sound advice, as usual. Too bad I hadn’t listened to him about Shade.
A sharp ache sliced through me. It was hot-cold, twisting and tight, and hurt more than I wanted to admit.
Shoving aside the awful feeling, I turned, anchored myself against the side of theEndeavor, and then sent the bug soaring off into the Dark. It would go forever—and hopefully lead that lying shit away from us.
With that device on its way to somewhere else, I kept going, continuing my methodical search. I found another bug just as a ship materialized on the outskirts of our side of Flyhole, punching into perception after a jump.
A bad feeling burrowed through me the second I saw it, and my heart started to thud. It was small, made for speed and maneuverability. It couldn’t possibly house more than two.
Two bounty hunters, if I had to guess.
I ripped the new bug off and sent it flying away without really moving, not wanting to draw attention to myself. It was possible that whoever was in that small cruiser wouldn’t see me out here. My suit was a similar color to theEndeavor, and we blended in with the other cargo ships hovering around the spacedock. It would take effort—and time—to pick us out from the rest, especially if it was that craft’s signal that I’d just sent spiraling off.
If it was Shade in that ship, though, he’d recognize theEndeavorin a heartbeat. He’d worked on her all week.
And what about more bugs? I still had a quarter of the ship to cover, and I couldn’t stop until the job was done. There was no easy fix from inside, like hitting the ship with a hull-wide electrical charge. Trackers were always insulated, specifically to guard against just that. This was all me, all now, and there was no way I was drawing what could turn out to be a horde of bounty hunters to Starway 8. It was already bad enough that Shade, the apparent top dog of the whole money-grubbing gang, knew exactly where I was heading next.
If he chose to, Shade could steer Bridgebane straight to the orphanage. The Dark Watch general might go there anyway. A disgusted voice inside me was telling me there was a chance that infecting kids in a place he could easily guess I cared about was his plan B—if his hunters failed to bring me in.
My stomach in knots, I continued searching for tracking devices, speeding up as much as I could.
The clock was ticking now more than ever. The kids were in bad shape and getting worse. There wasn’t enough time to find the Fold and recruit someone else to take the shots to Starway 8. That could take days—and cost lives. CostColtin’slife. Our best bet now was to get in and out of the orphanage before Shade or Bridgebane caught up.
“Talk to me, Tess.” Fiona’s voice came through the com, efficient and a little clipped. “Your heart rate just jumped.”
“Small ship. Portside. And a bit behind.” They likely couldn’t see it from the bridge, and there were so many blobs on the radar here that it would be almost impossible to pick out a little one like that. “I don’t like the way it looks.”
“There’s too much activity on the monitors to find it,” Jax said. “Foe?”
“Who’s not a foe, Jax?”
“I’m not your enemy, Tess. Save it for the asshole you just left.”
I tried not to leap down his throat again. “I’m not done yet.”
“Forget the stickers. Get back inside. We’ll jump,” Jax said.
“There might still be bugs.”
The small cruiser moved closer, breathing down my neck.
Jax must have gotten a lock on it once it entered our space, because he started to sound even more urgent. “Let’s go, Tess. We’ll jump halfway to 8 and finish there.”
“That’s a useless waste of power.” Draining theEndeavor’s energy resources with an extra jump now when we might need the juice a lot more later was a hardnoin my mind.
