His hands trembled on the controls. He wanted to open fire, to raze it to nothing with his laser weapons.Jesus. He fought for air. He didn’t use guns anymore, of any kind. Guns killed in an instant and sometimes they killed the wrong people.
Lucifa came closer, filling the viewscreen of his ship. He heard sobbing, a woman’s sobbing. Zayn’s heart pounded, his chest tightening. Now he was running, rushing through a maze of rooms.
Then he heard the gunshot.
And the silence after it.
Then alarms blaring.
Fuck. He tore the visor off. The low light in his room speared into his eyes. He leaped off the bed, trying to shake off the past.
It was done. Gone. He had to learn to live with it.
It was then he realized the screech of the alarm hadn’t stopped. He glanced over at the control panel on the wall.
It was the proximity alarm for their base.
Shit. Someone had infiltrated the Phoenix headquarters.
CHAPTER THREE
Ria cursed. She’d tripped an alarm.
By the dagger, she was out of practice. If she’d done this in her training, her instructor’s punishment would have been swift and cruel.
She fought the overwhelming urge to move. Instead, she stayed still, buried in the shadows of the large hangar. She was crouched beside a…she peered at the lump of twisted metal. She wasn’t entirely sure.
The sound of running footsteps and a jumble of voices reached her. She saw the Phoenix brothers and two women rush into the main area.
None of the men were wearing shirts. Ria swallowed.Wow. Her gaze roamed over Zayn’s chest. Lean and smooth, no hair. His navy cargo pants rode low on his hips and made her want to see more.
“Eos and I will check the hangar and living quarters.” Dathan was directing the group. “Nik, you and BEll check all the scanners and cameras. See if you can track down whoever is crazy enough to break into our place. Z and Mal, you guys check outside. Landing pads and everything within the huma-dome.”
Everyone nodded and split off. Ria watched with interest as Zayn moved outside with a tiny woman who looked like a cross between a slender dancer and a mechanic. Her baggy coveralls almost swamped her frame.
Keeping an eye on Dathan, Ria used her skills to sneak outside. She’d been trained by the galaxy’s experts at sneaking. The Assassin’s Guild prized the ability to kill your target in an up close and personal fashion. Assassins liked to taunt their victims, leaving knives on their target’s pillows or at their dinner tables, before taking their lives.
Ria hated it.
The purple shimmer of the huma-dome extended over the Phoenix base and the landing pads, keeping a breathable atmosphere inside but allowing ships to move in and out unimpeded. Without enviro suits, she knew Zayn and his companion couldn’t move outside the dome.
Using the shadows, Ria moved along the outside of the building. She saw Zayn and the woman ahead, heads close together, talking. Who the hell was she? Ria felt a splash of something hot and ugly in her belly. Did Zayn have a girlfriend?
Ria shook her head. He wasn’t hers. She didn’t even know him except for a few vague dreams and her research.Stupid.
She trailed along behind them, watching them check possible hiding places, rolling her eyes at some of the spots they were searching. Like she’d squish herself into a trash crate. No self-respecting assassin would dream of using such an ignoble hiding spot.
She saw Zayn pause. His body grew still but his muscles tensed. She narrowed her eyes.What was he doing?
Suddenly, he spun and sprinted toward her.
Ria jolted but didn’t move. There was no way he could see her. Her all-in-one light armor was the darkest charcoal colorand even her head was covered with a helmet.Don’t move. Her muscles screamed in protest.Don’t move.
Sure enough, he paused. Just meters away from her.
“Z, what is it?” the woman asked.
“Something. I sensed…something.”
