Gus reached into her cloak.“Nice try—but I’m afraid that won’t be necessary.”
The pirate made an agonized sound as she withdrew a coin sized device most black hat hackers and pirate groups referred to as a Jimmy.Highly illegal and very expensive, a Jimmy could clone just about any system it came in contact with.The tradeoff being that it pretty much destroyed the original system.
Stealthy, they were not.
However, they were handy when you were under a time crunch and had to get in and out and didn’t care if anyone found out about your presence.
There was a buzz, signaling the Jimmy was done.
“Worth every credit,” Gus murmured, slipping the Jimmy into her cloak.
“Mon.Ster.”
Gus’s mouth quirked as she walked back over to the pirate and crouched next to him.“Takes one to know one.”
He should remember that for the next life.There was always someone bigger and badder waiting to knock you down a peg.Or ten.Karma was a wicked mistress, with a habit of kicking you in the balls when you least expected it.
Maybe if the would-be leader of Belladonna had taken that lesson to heart earlier in life, he wouldn’t now be breathing his last.
“What the hell?”someone exclaimed from the direction of the blast doors.
Gus looked up.Oh dear.More guests.
Their timing was atrocious.A few minutes earlier and she wouldn’t have needed to lift a finger.The poison would have taken care of them the same way it had these others.By now, most of the poison had dissipated, leaving the air inside the hideout relatively safe.
With herkirunning low, she was going to have come up with some other way to kill off these newcomers.
While considering her options, her gaze landed on a boy standing at the back of the pack.Younger than the rest by several decades, there was an openness and curiosity to his expression that didn’t suit his young features or the current circumstances.
“This is a bit awkward,” Gus admitted, feeling a little put out as she eyed the boy.After everything she’d done to avoid this encounter, fate seemed to have other plans.
“What did you do?”a pirate demanded.
Gus tried not to frown.Wasn’t that obvious?
She’d killed them.
Shooting another quick glance at the boy, Gus let out a heartfelt sigh.“I’d say this isn’t what it looks like, but I doubt you’d believe me.”
“You’re damn right about that,” someone muttered.
“Itoldthe cadre that trusting wizards was a mistake,” another pirate spat.
Gus nodded.“Yes, I agree.That was definitely a mistake.”
Tuann were notoriously tricky even when dealing with their own kind.Throw in humans, whom they looked down on, and you were practically asking to die.
“What do we do?”one of the pirates asked their leader.
Gus knew what she would have done in their place.She would have run.Fast and far.No looking back.Then she would have hidden.Somewhere deep and dark where no one would ever think to look.
Of course, that was providing the boy at the back of the pack was willing to let her go.
“Kill her,” the leader ordered.
“That’s hardly wise, don’t you think?”the boy asked, finally making his presence felt.“I mean—she just took out over twenty people without lifting a finger.”
“I thought you didn’t speak human standard,” someone whispered.
