"You may not have to work alone," Nansar said, and something in his tone made me tense. "They found the spy in the Alliance. A human female named Merrilee Sanchez."
The name meant nothing to me, but the implications did. Someone who'd been feeding Hewes information, helping him stay ahead of Alliance forces. My jaw tightened. "Where is she now?"
"Being sent to Palaydium," Chloe said, and her expression softened with sympathy. "She was a victim, Ahrick. Hewes kidnapped her brother and sister, held them hostage to force her cooperation. She did what she had to do to keep them alive."
I understood that. Understood it better than most. Desperation made people do terrible things, made them compromise everything they believed in just to survive.
"She's coming there to kill him," Nansar continued. "It's part of her deal with the Prime. She helps eliminate Hewes, and she gets to go home. Back to Earth."
I stared at the holographic display, trying to process what they were telling me. "An Earth female. You want to send an Earth female into Fange City to assassinate one of the most dangerous humans in the galaxy, who's currently under the protection of a Kerzak crime lord."
"Yes," Chloe said simply.
"Earth females are delicate." I'd seen how fragile they were, how easily they broke under pressure Fange City would exert. "She'll be dead within an hour of arriving."
"I'm an Earth female," Chloe pointed out, her voice edged with a reminder of exactly how dangerous she could be. "And I'm still here."
She had a point. I'd watched Chloe fight, watched her move with lethal grace that hadn't a thing to do with size or strength and everything to do with will, skill, and a refusal to break. If this Merrilee Sanchez had even a fraction of that...
But still. Fange City wasn't a battlefield. It was a meat grinder, a place where the strong preyed on the weak and the weak died screaming. Sending anyone here was dangerous.Sending a human female who'd been victimized by Hewes, who probably had no combat training, no experience with places like this...
"The Prime wants you to continue your mission," Nansar said, pulling me back to the present. "Kill Hewes. But watch the human female. Help her if she needs it. She's been through enough, Ahrick. The Prime wants to give her this chance, but she doesn't want to send her to her death."
"So I'm supposed to complete my assassination while also playing bodyguard to a traumatized Earth female who's probably never killed anyone in her life." I couldn't keep the skepticism from my voice.
"Yes," Chloe said, steel in her tone. "Because she deserves the chance to face him. To take back some of what he stole from her. You understand that, don't you?"
I did. Goddess help me, I did. The need for vengeance, for justice—I understood that better than most.
"When does she arrive?" I asked.
"Three days," Nansar said. "Maybe four, depending on transport schedules. Officially, she's just another prisoner being transferred to Palaydium for her crimes. No one will know she's there to kill Hewes until it's done."
"Assuming she survives long enough to try," I muttered.
"That's where you come in," Chloe said. "The Prime trusts you, Ahrick. She knows you'll do what needs to be done."
The holographic display flickered as the connection began to degrade. We didn't have much time left.
"I'll do it," I said, because what else could I say? The Prime had given me a mission, had trusted me with this despite my past, despite everything I'd done. "But if this human female gets herself killed because she's not prepared for Fange City—"
"Then you make sure Hewes dies anyway," Nansar finished. "That's the priority. Hewes doesn't leave Palaydium alive."
"Understood."
The connection cut out, leaving me in the darkness of the tunnel with only the distant sounds of Fange City filtering through the walls. I deactivated the comm unit, tucking it back against my chest where it would be safe, and sat there for a moment, letting my eyes adjust to the deeper shadows.
Three days. Maybe four.
Three days to figure out how to access a man protected by one of the most dangerous crime lords in the sector, while also keeping a traumatized Earth female alive long enough to get her shot at revenge.
I pulled myself out of the access tunnel, emerging back into the toxic twilight of Fange City. The smell hit me again—rust and rot and desperation—but this time it felt heavier, more oppressive. The jagged skyline of crashed ships and salvaged metal stretched out before me, a monument to everything that went wrong in the galaxy. Somewhere in that chaos, Hewes was hiding behind Persico's walls, thinking he was safe.
He wasn't.
I moved through the shadows, keeping to the edges of the makeshift streets, my mind already working through the new variables. An Earth female. A spy. A victim. Someone who'd been broken by Hewes and was now coming here to break him in return.
I understood the impulse. Understood the need. But understanding didn't make it any less dangerous, didn't make Fange City any less likely to chew her up and spit out her bones.
