Adryel froze, and her gaze flicked to Stron for a second before going back to Knobb.
An internal job?
That this was orchestrated by someone who they’d brought with them? Someone on their transport?
“Why would anyone blow up their only way off this planet?” Stron asked.
“You’ve never stranded someone to make sure the job was done?” Knobb asked, his eyebrow raised.
Stron blinked. His expression flickered for a moment.
Then he glanced at Adryel. “We’re leaving.”
They hadn’t gotten far out of Knobb’s little cave space, when Adryel pulled away from Stron after he helped her adjust her hood.
“What the hell was that?” She asked as she fiddled with the cloak more, shielding herself from prying eyes.
Though it didn’t help, they were still being watched. Whoever it was, it wasn’t Knobb’s accomplices watching them.
“We need to get out of here.” Stron put his big hand on her arm again.
“Obviously, but what was he talking about?” Adryel said, letting him guide her through the tunnel and back toward the market area. She kept a grip on his arm as he practically dragged her forward. He’d been much slower before. Now, he walked with purpose. She almost had to run to keep up with him.
“Do not concern yourself,” he said, his expression unreadable in the dim tunnel. “It is best that we return and see what else we can find out.”
Adryel gritted her teeth. He knew something but wasn’t sharing it with her, and that just pissed her off.
The way that Knobb and Stron looked at each other had meaning, and there was history between the two of them. Not great history, she guessed from the way Stron wanted to leave.
He didn’t seem bothered while the others in the tunnel were watching them. Of course, Stron’s pace had them moving quickly as well.
Made them easier to spot.
“You think our friends are going to miss us when we’re gone?” Adryel asked, slightly out of breath from trying to keep up with him.
He glanced at her for a second. “Possibly.” His pace slowed slightly. “They may even come calling.”
Relaxing a little as he slowed down just a touch, she continued. “Should we put out the ‘do not disturb’ notice when we get home?” She asked. She was only partially kidding.
Not that they looked like the types to heed a sign.
“It is not a bad notion,” he said.
“Tell that to the ones back at Terra North,” she said, her mind immediately going back to the attack that was just a few hours ago, which was hard to believe.
The blaster fire. The explosions.
He huffed. And she could feel the boning in his arm shifting slightly under where she had her hand on him. That natural armor they had on their bodies that seemed to grow when needed.
She wondered if he even noticed the shifts in it as he moved.
It intrigued her in a way it probably shouldn’t. Her mind should be focused on the situation at hand, not so intently on him.
If he noticed her attention shift, he didn’t acknowledge it.
He probably just considered her an annoying humanoid he had to deal with right now, anyway.
She started to wonder if her desire to come down here and stick with him, rather than back at her apartment and wait was the best idea.
