I reluctantly unglued myself from her and cleared my throat. “I guess it’s time to go anyway. You ready for this?” I asked in a hoarse voice.
She opened her eyes, two bright-blue starbursts that glittered with teasing warmth. “Cupcake, I’m ready for anything.”
“Cupcake.” I shook my head. “I should never have called you ‘sugar,’ not even once.”
“Nope.” A smile curved her lips. It expanded, her grin infectious, until we both laughed. “But I love you anyway.”
My heart grew ten sizes too big for my chest and squashed everything else aside. I couldn’t breathe, but I kissed her again. And then again, because I couldn’t help it, and because there was no telling what the next few hours would bring.
* * *
We landed on Starbase 12 without incident. Mwende rattled off security codes and personal identification numbers while the rest of us stayed quiet and waited. It was two days after Daniel Ahern’s contact was supposed to have lowered the alarm for three hours on Platform 7. Two days after the man probably thought we’d bailed on the mission and abandoned his wife. The rebel leaders in the Fold probably thought so, too. We hadn’t informed anyone of the change of plan. It wouldn’t have been smart. We also had no easy way to contact them.
Mwende seemed fully committed to helping us, even though she had a lot to lose if things went wrong here. We could all potentially lose our lives, and she could potentially blow her cover. There was no mask on her face. That was her own dark skin and sweat-free complexion. It was almost a shame to risk her.
She looked over at me from the passenger’s seat as I powered down the cruiser. Ten heavily armed Dark Watch guards were already coming forward to greet us. Tess, Jax, and Merrick were out of sight and handcuffed in the back section. They’d need to be careful not to move wrong, or the fake cuffs could pop open.
“Own that uniform,” Mwende told me in a low but steely voice. “Believeit.”
Her words sank deep.Belief.That was what it took. Purpose. Convictions that went beyond myself. Hope.
The echo of a thousand revolutions rose inside me to grip me around the throat. Drumbeat heart. Gunshot pulse. My whole body burning up.
I nodded, not trusting my voice. A war cry wanted to fly out.
Squaring my shoulders, I opened the door and stepped down. Today wouldn’t be about battling these people. It would be about pretending to be one of them until we got what we came here for.
“General, we’re here to escort you.” The leading soldier’s quick salute was picture perfect. It made me want to kick him in the head.
I nodded again. I could corral my natural drawl into more clipped tones, but there was no reason to tempt fate. I’d speak when necessary.
Mwende gathered the prisoners. We surrounded them along with the ten guards and started toward the lifts.
“We want the Lower H interrogation room. Make sure it’s clear,” Mwende snapped.
“Yes, Lieutenant.” The same soldier who’d greeted me used a pocket-sized tablet to confirm that the room was empty. “I’ll bring the usual instruments,” he said.
Was there a way that could sound anymoreominous? My jaw clenched.
“Not necessary.” Mwende shoved Merrick forward when he balked at the block of elevators. “Bring prisoners Reena Ahern and Shiori Takashi to the interrogation room. They’re all we need to get information from this group.”
Tess hissed in a breath and shot Mwende a look so hate-blackened I almost thought she’d missed her calling as an actress.
Jax ground out, “You bitch.”
Mwende gave him a cold look. She ignored Tess.
Merrick didn’t say anything but growled when the guards pushed him into a lift. He was with Mwende and half the guards. I took a different elevator with Jax, Tess, and the rest of the soldiers who’d met us on the landing dock.
At Lower H, we stepped out first. Mwende wasn’t there yet, and I didn’t know which direction to take. Tess angled her body to the left. I pretended to have pushed her that way to begin with and headed where she led. The second lift opened, and the others followed us down the corridor.
It was impossible to miss the interrogation room. It was large and labeled, its size being the reason we chose it. Instead of separating the prisoners, we could chain them all in one place. The guards shoved Tess, Jax, and Merrick into seats on the far side of a rectangular table and attached their cuffed wrists to the metal rings in front of them.
Tess jerked her hands away at the last second. The head goon grabbed her joined wrists and slammed them down hard on the table. Pain blazed across her expression, and it was all I could do not to heave the man away from her and teach him a bone-breaking lesson.
Forced to seethe in silence, I watched him clip Tess to the ring, rattling her hands again just because he knew it would hurt and because she was tied down like an animal. She spat in his face.
Oh yeah. I loved her.
