Chapter Twenty-Four
They strode down thecorridor. Shank wore his hair tucked up under a maintenance cap, and Allie had a crew shirt from a ship called theAthena. People hurried past them, mostlyMonitorcrew walking fast and talking loud.
“Seems like something’s gone wrong,” Allie commented in the blandest voice she could manage.
Shank grunted.
Two more people hurried past, and now Allie could see the blast doors that led into the berth where theMonitorwas docked. An older man stood there arguing with two more crew who were trying to leave the area. Allie couldn’t hear the exact words, but it seemed like everyone wanted to head down to the main docks for a fight. Not only had Cetan pulled off a dock fight, but it seemed like it was big enough to attract a lot of attention. After more angry words, the older man got his crew to go back into the berth area.
Copta stood waiting at a small cart filled with dried foods. Normally she dressed conservatively in dark clothes and long sleeves, and she always kept her hair covered. Now she wore tight brown pants and a red tunic, and her black hair cascaded over her shoulders. How had Allie missed the fact that Copta was amazingly gorgeous?Monitorcrew definitely wouldn’t recognize her, and they’d never seen Becca. She stood at the back of the cart and called people over, trying to tempt them to buy. She was a decent barker, although right now everyone seemed distracted by the news of a fight.
Allie passed them and headed right into a message booth while Shank passed her, pushing the cart with Claire inside. He turned left into a small service area between theMonitor’s berth and the dark one. Allie held her breath. If the maintenance card Cetan had bought worked, Shank would be able to get into the service corridor between the ships.
Allie waited in the private booth, her heart pounding so fast that she almost felt like she could hear her own blood rushing through her veins. She hated waiting, but she had to admit that if Claire came around, Shank was physically stronger. He’d be able to stun her again and shove her body back down into the cart. Besides, after what that woman had tried to do, Shank had a right to a little revenge. Allie wished he would agree to spacing Claire, but she suspected he had too much honor to go along.Too bad.
A small knock on the door startled Allie, even though she was expecting it. She opened it and let Copta in.
“Did it go all right?”
“If by all right you mean Shank getting tied up, and Claire trying to sell him to Command, sure. It went great.”
Copta stared at her.
“It ended up okay. I shot her, and Shank has her in the cart, so we actually are on plan,” Allie added. “Now we just have to pray her biosign opens the ship bay.”
“Okay.” Copta frowned. “She tried to sell Shank?”
“I’m starting to understand why his family questions his judgment,” Allie said. “The woman is a nutcase.”
“She must have some good qualities to have attracted Shank in the first place, yes?”
“No,” Allie said firmly. As far as she was concerned, Claire was proof that Shank had suffered a near-fatal case of teenage hormone psychosis or stupidity or something. “How’s Becca doing?”
“Not well,” Copta said quietly. “She mourns for Ben, and I have trouble comforting her because I feel like we’ve failed him somehow by sending him out there.”
Allie felt the same way, but Shank and Ben had both made their arguments. “He would rather risk capture than bring the authorities down on us. He was trained by the SC, so he’ll give them a run for their money.”
“He will,” Copta said. “He has a much greater chance of evading them if he’s alone. I still feel like I betrayed a friend, though.”
“You and me both,” Allie admitted. “Time?”
“We still have three minutes,” Copta said. By now, Shank should be in the dark berth. In three more minutes, he should have disabled the lock on the two maintenance doors—the one to the public corridor and the one to the berth—and he should have placed the smoke grenades. Either that or he’d be under guard, and they would have to run a rescue mission to retrieve him before moving on to Jacqs and Zeke. They had contingencies for this mission. Allie chewed on her lips as the seconds ticked past.
