A second later, she shook off that thought.Her reasons for turning Kyle’s mom down were sound.
“Activate your beacon,” Gus ordered, spotting one of the hidden entrances to the secret tunnel system up ahead.
“You finally making a move?”Brooks teased.
“They took something from me.I want it back.”
Brooks didn’t need to know that something was an actual person.Or that “they” were in fact her siblings.He had his instructions.That should be enough.
“You should know there’s a troublesome presence on Titan,” Brooks drawled.
“Are you referring to the Phoenix?”
“You’ve heard, then,” Brooks said with some surprise.
Kind of hard not to.She had a feeling that before the day was through news would have worked its way through every information guild on Titan.Kira’s hopes of anonymity were fast vanishing.
“Did you also hear about her companions?”
Gus got a cagey look on her face.“I may have.”
“Funny, isn’t it?Kind of makes you wonder who exactly the Phoenix really is.”
Gus didn’t have to wonder.She already knew so much more than she ever wanted to.None of which she could share.Not without painting more of a target on her back than was already there.
“I’ll be waiting for your notification,” she said, changing the subject.
“Of course.I’ll send word once we’re on the move.See you soon, boss.”
Gus stared down at the scroll in aggravation as he hung up.“He knows I hate being called that.”
No matter how many times she corrected him, he insisted on using that title.As if he knew something no one else did.
Taking one last look at the corridors behind her to make sure no one was watching, Gus disappeared into the secret tunnels.
Fifteen
SeveralHoursLater
An unobtrusive chime pulled Gus out of the rest state she’d settled into while waiting for word from Brooks.
Straightening, she glanced at the ship’s console.
“Just what I’d expect of an Oleander,” Gus whispered.
Brooks never just followed instructions.He anticipated.He planned.Every obstacle.Every delay.Anything that might impede her plans; he’d already run the calculations and come up with the solution.
Gus considered the tiny blinking dot and its flight path for several seconds before shaking her head.Brooks hadn’t just given her the location for Belladonna’s hideout, but a flight path through the Falling’s wreckage.Something salvagers would kill for.
“How does he do that?”
Not for the first time, Gus wondered what someone like Brooks was doing in a place like Titan.
With his talents, the man could go anywhere.Centcom.Any planetary intelligence agency.Even a couple of the major corporations would pay a pretty credit to have someone with his capabilities on staff.It made his insistence on hanging around Titan all the more questionable.
Normally, Gus didn’t like things she couldn’t explain, but in Brooks’s case, he’d proven himself uncommonly loyal.
Gus kept reading, finding the message Brooks had included at the end.
