“Someone paranoid,” Shank said. “And she changes it every week. Unfortunately, she also gravely underestimated my curiosity. It only took me a few weeks to figure out her pattern. She uses a combination of birth date, current date, Stern prime numbers, and her weight.”
“Her weight?”
Shank looked over. “She weighs herself every single week. And once I knew her birthday, it was easy to see that was how she started her code, so then I simply had to figure out the pattern with the other numbers.”
“And she let you see the code as she entered it?”
Shank grinned. “Funny enough, she never seemed to understand that I am quite competent at stealing.”
“You know, it actually bothers me a little that you went from her to me,” Allie said.
“I moved up.” Shank let Claire slide to the floor, and he pulled his weapon as the light on the door turned green. “We have the door open, so if there are crew inside, we’re about to have another fight.” Allie moved to the opposite side of the door.
Becca trotted across the room, the gas launcher in hand. “Ready,” she said as she took position on one knee.
Shank pushed the door’s control, and it slid open. Becca sent a gas grenade straight into the ship, and Shank closed the door. “A few more of those and the ship will be ours.”
“And then we’ll get to clean all that stuff out of our filters,” Allie pointed out.
“Yeah, but the ship will be ours,” Shank repeated. “Let me bask in the glory of my first truly great theft.”
“Don’t let me stop you. Bask away,” Allie said. “Just do it quickly before theMonitorcrew comes back from that bar fight.”
“Basking over,” Shank said. He opened the door again and moved into the dimly lit space inside with his stunner in hand. Allie raised her radius blaster and followed, careful to keep an eye on the corridor behind them as Shank advanced.
Shank reached the first intersection and paused. The lights overhead glowed a dull red, so someone had triggered internal alarms. Hopefully Copta and Becca had silenced any transmissions, or this might get a little too interesting. They definitely needed to move quickly.
When Shank signaled that he was taking the right side, Allie gave him a thumbs-up gesture. He headed farther into the ship, and she trailed after him and kept her weapon focused on their six.
“Closed bulkhead,” Shank said quietly.
Crap. Yeah, they had someone wandering around in here. Allie fingered the two gas grenades in her pouch. Hopefully it would be enough. Shank went down on one knee and pried the cover off the bulkhead controls. The ship might be a beauty, but the internal security sucked. Whoever built her never expected her to get boarded. Either that or he expected to have enough guards that a few unsecured hatches wouldn’t matter.
Within seconds, Shank got the bulkhead to open, and he eased his way farther into the ship. “Another junction ahead,” Shank said softly.
Allie turned to look at it. The corridor widened out considerably in this section, but there were still too many good hiding places. “Do you want to toss another gas grenade?” she asked.
“Down!” Shank yelled. Terror made Allie drop to the ground, and he fired over her head, the heat of the energy discharge making the air smell of ozone. Allie twisted around and fired her own projectile weapon down the corridor. She felt the metal decking under her shiver as a bullet ricocheted off it dangerously close.
Shank grabbed her foot and jerked her toward the junction, her shirt riding up as she slid across the textured deck plates. The whole time, she continued to fire as she caught hints of someone taking shelter behind the edge of the bulkhead they’d just passed. Someone must have followed them, which meant she hadn’t watched their six very damn well.
Once Shank pulled her behind the corner, she stood and pulled a grenade out of her pouch.
“Mask.” Shank pointed to her mask, and Allie reached up to find it had slid half off her face. She readjusted it.
“Ready,” she said, holding the grenade up. Shank held up five fingers and began to silently count down, lowering a finger each second. When he ran out of fingers, he leaned around the corner and started firing.
Using him for cover, Allie stepped out and threw the grenade as hard as she could. It landed with the sharp ringing sound of metal against metal, and then the white gas quickly filled the hall. Allie ducked back into cover and brought her gun up to cover their rear.
“I think he’s out,” Shank finally said.
“Well, shit. I’m sorry.”
Shank looked over at her. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re doing better with this than I would if I tried to ride a nav board.”
“You shouldn’t have to babysit me on a mission.” Allie clenched her teeth as she swallowed the rest of her self-hate. Damn it, she was trying to show she could handle herself, and this wasn’t the way to do it.
“I don’t. I trust you to watch my back. Now which way to the bridge?”
