“Thank you, sir. I appreciate the information.”
“If you study the old laws, it should be there.” Krispin straightened. “It’s too bad your ward is no longer with us. I would’ve liked to meet the woman you couldn’t leave behind.” With another nod, he left.
Mace stared at the closed door for a good long while, thinking. Would it have been possible to protect her properly from the start? The processor should have told him. They were the ones most well-versed in the old laws—but of course he hadn’t. He’d wanted the creds Mace could give him instead.
With a sound of disgust, Mace strode toward the door. He had someone to visit in the brig.
Grey was waiting for him. They fell into step as Mace headed toward the lift. “You don’t need to hold my hand,” he said as he slapped the control panel.
“I was ordered by Cache to make sure you don’t kill him.”
“A direct order?” The lift door slid open, and they both stepped on. He touched the control for the brig.
“Yeah,” Grey said, facing the door. “Apparently someone from the top is taking an interest. Not Krispin, though.”
His instincts tingled. Who would be interested in whether Justice was kept alive? Grey’s eyebrow arched like he was wondering the same thing.
The need to kill Justice for what he’d done to Lexi burned through him like a supernova. But there was also Grey to think about. If he’d been given a direct order, then there would be repercussions for him as well.
As much as it pained him to say, Mace gritted, “I’ll just talk to him.” But there was only thing he needed to “talk” about—he needed the name of the ship or station where Lexi was taken.
“Of course,” Grey replied, his voice mild. “I wouldn’t have thought any different.”
The lift door opened into a dimly lit corridor smelling of death. It wasn’t the same scent as in a med bay, but one laced with desperation and fear.
They stopped at the take-in desk manned by one enforcer. “Which cell for the CORE agent who was picked up?”
“Interrogation room six,” she said. “But Commander Foley’s already in with him, sir,”
Mace clenched his fists. “Under whose orders?”
“His own, sir.”
Passing her by to stride through the corridor, Mace didn’t bother with the observation room, but scanned his hand and opened the main door.
Shirtless and bloody, Justice sat with his wrists bound to the table in front of him, his feet secured to the deck. Foley leaned over him, a hooked instrument pressed next to Justice’s eye.
Blood coated the tools on the cart beside the table. Lines were carved into Justice’s body He had two black eyes, and blood ran from his mouth to run though his goatee and mix with his saliva before dropping to the table.
“Foley,” Mace growled. “Out.”
Foley hesitated before straightening. Shrugging, he tossed the instrument on the metal tray next to the interrogation table. The rest of the surgical tools clattered together.
They both stepped into the corridor, the door closing to block Mace’s view of Justice.
“I thought you’d have an interest in this one,” Foley said, his knowing tone grating against Mace’s nerves.
“I’m taking over.” Not wanting to hear Foley speak again, Mace scanned his hand and re-entered the cell, knowing Grey would wait on the other side of the window.
Justice lifted his head, saw him, and spat a gob of blood to the side. “You come to relieve that coward? Piece of Tell shit hits like he’s flirting.” Another gob of blood flew to the deck.
Even with Justice’s damaged state, Mace only had to envision Lexi’s face to want to do worse to him. And he should have realized the moment he stepped foot on Lexi’s outpost that Justice was an agent. It was his eyes. Too steady, too trained, they took in everything without trying to. And right now, Justice’s eyes urged him to kill him and get it over with.
Mace paced in front of the table. He would return him to Foley’s tender care before allowing Justice the easy way out.
“Where are they taking Lexi?” If he had a starting point, it would make it so much easier to track her. It had to be a prison station somewhere, but there were so many, and each person was stripped of their name when they arrived, given only a number.
“You’re not very good at this shit, are you?” Justice said, his voice too calm. “You’ve told me what you want in the first five seconds. Now I won’t give it to you until I get what I want. The other guy might be a pussy, but you’re an amateur.” His Lunar accent was probably real too, unlike Lexi's learned one.
