That she was, but since she’d helped save Dathan a few months back, they hadn’t heard from her. Zayn glanced at Nik’s closed face and felt a twinge of suspicion. Well, as far as Zayn knew they hadn’t.
“I’ll keep pushing our sources.” Dathan held Eos close to his side. “Someone must know who he is.”
“I’ll run some searches.” Nik crossed his arms over his chest. “See where he’s selling his goods.”
Zayn nodded. “We’ll start—” A discreet beep from the cockpit cut him off. “That’s an incoming message.”
He stalked to the command center and glanced at the large screen that controlled all the ship’s systems. A message blinked on the screen and he tapped it.
“Looks like someone’s already responded to your call, Dath. Darwood.”
Dathan grimaced. “Slippery bugger. But his intel’s always been solid, if a little old. Of course, he only sells it for an exorbitant price.”
“He says he might know something.” Zayn scanned the text. “But he’ll only meet in person.”
“Strange. Usually, he’s happy to do business over the comm.”
Zayn read the rest of it. “It gets worse. He wants to meet on Syntha.”
Even Nik cursed. Syntha was a megacity world. Every inch of it was covered in neon-colored humanity and quite a few species that weren’t human. There was the Sub World tunneled into the ground, the Tower World for those who lived in the mega-skyscrapers, and then the Sky World—communities built on huge floating platforms tethered to the towers for the richest of the rich. The entire planet was filled with bars, strip joints, gambling dens, and brothels. It was loud, chaotic, and full of people out to take your e-creds.
Zayn caught his brothers’ gazes. Then his sister-in-law’s.
She gave them a short nod. “We have to find out who this thief is and why he’s targeted us.”
Zayn turned to the control panel. “Setting course for Syntha.”
CHAPTER TWO
The bar stank of high-octane kila and ale.
Ria Dante sat in a shadowed corner, avoiding the garish glow of the neon lights, and unlike the other inebriated patrons, sipped her coffee. The drink had been popular on Earth and now was coming back into fashion. Everyone else was gorging themselves on drinks in an entire spectrum of colors, some with mysterious vapors rising from the top.
She kept her eyes on the door, occasionally glancing at the chunky timepiece on her wrist. He was late.
Then she saw them.
Three men, clearly brothers, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the doorway. One was taller, and a little broader than the others. He had short, dark hair and a raw-boned faced that screamed smart. He’d be Niklas, the former astro-archeologist.
Next to him was a rangier man with shaggy hair and eyes that scanned the entire room without appearing to do so. He had an alertness to him, like he was ready to throw a fist or slide in behind you and take your wallet before you knew it. The legendary treasure hunter, Dathan Phoenix.
Her gaze landed on the final man and her heart leaped into her throat.Zayn. His name echoed through her head, in the same way the hazy images of his face haunted her dreams. He was leaner than his brothers, his hands shoved in the pockets of his navy trousers. His tawny hair was no longer as regulation short as the Strike Wing required, but it wasn’t as long as Dathan’s. Zayn rocked on his heels, almost like he couldn’t bear to stand still. His trousers and loose white shirt somehow looked wrong on him. He needed to be in something sharper, like a uniform or a flight suit.
Ria had spent months studying him, all of them. And she’d spent months luring Zayn out. She wanted—no, needed—to know everything about this man.
She’d been born and raised in the Devil’s Nebula. Her earliest memories were of training with the Assassin’s Guild. She fingered a scar on her arm. It had been brutal, but they were all she had in the way of family. The Guild didn’t believe in children being raised by parents. In fact, no adults saw the Guild children until they reached majority. They were reared in secret, their training starting as soon as they could sit up.
But during the last few years, Ria had started to have strange nightmares. They were muddled and hazy, but she remembered one thing: Zayn Phoenix’s face.
And if that wasn’t enough, now she also had bigger problems than nightmares.
The Assassin’s Guild was out to get her.
Dathan looked over his shoulder and talked to someone else. It was then the woman moved up between them. This had to be Dr. Eos Rai-Phoenix. She was lovely, with a curvy body, flowing dark hair and floral designs on the back of her hands. Most of the treasure hunting community had been shocked when the galaxy’s most notorious ladies’ man had up and married afterdiscovering the biggest haul of treasure ever—the Treasures of the New Louvre at Star’s End.
The only thing missing from the haul had been the famed fragment of theMona Lisa, spirited off Earth by colonists during the Great Terran War.
Her gaze was drawn back to Zayn, and she watched the group move through the crowded bar. He moved with a graceful, loose-limbed stride, and she noted other female patrons looking his way. She also noted the way the men surrounded Eos, keeping her between them.
