“Oh, this will be fun.” He bit on his lip and looked at Darren with a slight frown. “But you said Marcus has the other part of it…?”
“I don’t think he is aware,” Darren rushed out.
Nyle tapped his slim fingers against his chin. “Okay. I agree. Or I’m sure I’d have heardsomething.”
Darren proceeded to tell Nyle about the rest of what Sara had shown him and Aiden, including Dr. Batbayar’s discovery.“I’ll need you to figure out where Marcus has the stuff from the Valrais Palace and Estates,” he added just as Bea and Kristen appeared through the hangar doors at the back of the hideout with their environmental suits half-undressed.
Nyle waved them over, then started typing something on the keyboard. “I’ll get right on it. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.”
“Ooh, something’s going on. What did we miss?” Bea demanded with a grin as she and Kristen came over to the war room and plopped into the two chairs on either of Nyle’s sides. “Someone’s getting married?”
Nyle snorted, wiggling his eyebrows without looking away from the screen. “C’mon now. I’m too young for that. We were just sorting out the logistics of infiltrating Marcus’ vaults.”
Bea peeled herself out of her suit and tied her fiery red hair in a loose ponytail. “I like the sound of that. What are we stealing?”
Nyle held the ring. “Darren, you didn’t actually saywhatthe data inside of it is.”
“Some kind of sequence the Valrais’ head scientist was working on.” He paused there and met Bea and Kristen’s curious gazes. “I’m not sure what it is exactly, but he believed that together with the sequence in the other ring, which Marcus has, it’s the next step in… human evolution.”
With a dramatic whistle, Nyle snapped his head Darren’s way. “Holy shit. Your folks weren’t messing around. If that’s what’s in the rings, who knows what crazy shit this doctor discovered, too!”
“Hold on, hold on,” Bea cut in, throwing her hands up. “What the fuck is going on? And what’s this about Marcus already having part of the legacy?”
Darren explained what he’d already told Nyle, catching the other two up.
“Okay.” Bea rubbed the side of her head. “There are two things we need to do then. Get Sara’s ring from Marcus and figure out what the doctor discovered. Any idea why Sara didn’t have that data?”
Darren had wondered about it, why Sara only had the information about the rings. He’d gotten nowhere speculating about it though, and he doubted any of the others would either. Besides, the why wasn’t so important now; they could worry about it later when they had retrieved the ring and whatever the second part of the legacy was.
“None. But I do know where to start looking.”
Bea crossed her arms and threw Darren a hard look. “I think I do too,” she said, and he didn’t miss the slight note of concern in her voice.
He nodded, ignoring the lump in his throat. “The Valrais Royal Palace ruins on Earth. Kesley and I will go. I want the three of you to work out which vault Marcus keeps the valuables in. That’s where the ring will most likely be.”
“Leave that to us. We’ll figure it out,” she quickly assured him. “But what about the man Nan is meeting with? Aiden’s friend?”
“That can wait until after Kesley and I return from Earth. The Legacy is our priority,” Darren said and tipped his chin at Nyle. “No luck on any of the contacts Bea supplied?”
Nyle pressed his lips in a line, tracing his index finger along the edge of the ring. “Nope. I’ll let you know as soon as I have something.”
Darren truly hoped Nyle would find someone. That at least some of those supposed allies he had were still alive. He didn’t voice any of those worries, though. “One more thing. Bea, I don’t want to risk a drop off by the Maine before we are sure it’s safe, so we need an alternative way to get to Earth. We’ll keep radiosilence while on the ground, but I’ll comm you with a time and location when we are ready for a pick up.”
“I’ve got your shuttle to Mars sorted already. When do you want to leave for Earth?”
“Whenever is the earliest you can get us on a ship,” Darren told her and watched the screen in front of her light up as she started typing.
“I need to get your fake IDs and the anti-identification mods ready, so…” she trailed off, mouthing something to herself. “How’s twenty hours from now sound?”
A yawn tore out of Darren as he nodded. But before he could thank her, Nyle waved him off.
“Like he better get some shut-eye while he still can,” the blond said, shooing him away.
Darren thought about arguing, but another yawn told him that Nyle was probably right, so he left the three in the war room and went back to his bedroom. As soon as he was under the covers, he started drifting off, his thoughts about Sara and Aiden gradually turning into a dream he knew he’d seen before but wouldn’t remember this time, too.
