“Well, my little brother asked to come along. I need you to tell him that we don’t have room for him.”
Allie had to rewind that bit of conversation and run it through her brain a second time. “Excuse me?”
“My brother, Chet. He has this idea that he’s going to come with us. God, he’s barely old enough to be an adult, and even then I’m using the word ‘adult’ loosely, but he didn’t listen when I told him he couldn’t come.”
Allie closed her eyes. The universe had a really twisted sense of humor. If Allie weren’t so damn tired, she’d track down Anpaytoo and use this whole conversation as proof of something—proof that Shank was more levelheaded than she thought, or maybe proof that women could really suck at thinking things through. Something.
“Allie?” Shank asked.
Allie nodded. “He’s your brother; of course he won’t listen to you. I’ll talk to him and tell him that this is aCandirucrew only sort of mission. I’ll invite him to come along next time we all decide to do something stupid.”
Without a word, Shank gathered her into his arms and held on. Soon enough Allie was going to have to put her foot down with Shank’s brother and watch Ben walk away and hold Becca’s hand as her world fell apart. But for now, she was going to hide in Shank’s embrace. He made sense to her in a way the rest of the world simply didn’t anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Allie shifted in hercramped hiding hole and checked her comm for the umpteenth time. Copta, Becca, and Cetan should be at the new ship, ready to go in as soon as Allie and Shank secured Shank’s bitch of an ex. Paya had sent a small group to one of the local bars to aggravate Claire’s crew and start a fight that would distract local authorities and hopefully pull more of theMonitor’s crew down into the docks and away from the ships. Ben was with that group. During the fight, he planned to break off and vanish into the poorer sections of the station, where drugs and refugees crowded the docks.
Despite the fact that she wanted to comm him, she kept radio silence and focused on the scene in front of her. If they all got through this, she was going to take the next bastard who tried to sacrifice himself, and lock him in the tiniest cell she could find. Unless the next bastard was Shank, and then she was chaining him to the bed and never letting him out again. Ever.
Claire’s voice interrupted her fantasies about Shank and beds. “Chankoowashtay.” She stepped out of the shadows, and despite all Allie’s fears, she had come alone. Cetan and Shank had guessed right on that one.
“Claire.” Shank sounded relieved. He moved into the middle of the abandoned service area but stopped when she drew a weapon.
Allie sucked in a fast breath, but Claire was too far away for the blast stunner to work, and jumping out from behind a fake service shaft and yellingboomight not be the best strategic move. She was stuck waiting.
Raising his hands, Shank asked, “Claire?”
“So, you wanted to see me. Here I am.”
“I didn’t want to have a gun pulled on me,” Shank said. He took a step backward, but Claire didn’t follow him. She stood at the door and held the weapon in a steady hand.
“What did you want? Turn around,” she ordered without giving him a chance to answer the first question.
Shank looked nervous, but Allie still didn’t have a clear shot. “I wanted to talk to you, Claire. We can talk like adults.”
“Adults?” She laughed. “That’s not the first word that comes to mind.”
