Scar stands in the middle of the room, his chest heaving. “Three off-worlders came through the transport station six diurnals ago. I didn’t catch them then; that’s the part that’s bothered me this whole time. They came in clean with credentials that scanned as Minecorp contractors, then they went dark and stayed dark. No lodging on record, no movement on any cam, nothing. They’ve been invisible, right under me.” His jaw flexes. “I only have them now because they surfaced this morning to move. That’s the only reason I know they exist at all.”
The room goes cold.
“And Scar doesn’t miss things,” Ines comments.
“This time I missed them because they were trained well enough to be missed,” Scar growls.
“Oh hells,” Heavy snarls.
“Where are they now?” Chief questions.
“Routing toward us through the dead zones. Avoiding every cam I’ve got, in a pattern.” Scar looks at Hallie. “They were never sightseeing. They’ve been sitting on us for six days deciding how to do this. And this morning they decided.”
“You’re sure they’re cominghere.”
“That’s not a patrol route, Chief. That’s an approach.”
“How do you know they’re not just contractors who got lost…” Heavy starts.
“Because of how they move.” Scar’s voice is flat. “The way they cover each other. The gear, once I finally got eyes on it. These aren’t local muscle, these aren’t hired thugs from the processing station who don’t know which end of a blaster to hold. They’re professionals. And they came from Chronos.”
I feel Hallie go still beside me.
“These aren’t Grytel’s people,” I say, because someone should say it out loud. “Grytel’s an ally now. This is the House, reaching in directly.”
“Yes.” Scar looks at me. “This is the House.” He turns to the whole room and says the thing none of us wanted said in front of her. “Understand what she is to them. She’s the Keeper of Records. Hallie Longwell walked off Chronos carrying hard evidence that ties what they’re doing here to what they did to our parents. She’s the only being alive who connects the two. Without her, our mother and father stay a cargo accident and the House stays a ghost. And without her, no one knows how they are trying to eliminate Margol Xylan from the future of Illibrium mining.” He looks at Hallie, and there’s something almost like an apology in it, but not quite, because there’s no time. “They didn’t send probably their best three Chronos operatives across the Four Sectors to frighten her off a cold case. They came to erase her. They cannot let her testimony survive.”
Hallie remains steady. “How long do we have?” she questions.
“Minutes,” Scar says. “Maybe less.”
“Offspring and thepregnant go to employee housing,” Chief barks, and it isn’t a discussion. “Stay with Leah and Hook. Now.”
Lila scoops up Argylia mid-protest. Naomi waddles to the front door. Jana’s already got Rux on her hip and her chin set. Ines moves with one hand on the curve of her belly and her journalist’s eyes taking everything in even now, even running. No long goodbyes. Quick kisses. A door, a transport, gone. The most precious things in our world, out of the line, and the compound feels suddenly hollow and cold without the noise of them.
And then there’s Roxy, standing in the middle of the front room with her arms crossed, not going anywhere.
“Roxy.” Cannibal’s voice drops into the register that usually ends arguments. “Housing. With the others.”
“No.”
“Roxy.”
“I’m not leaving her alone.” She tips her head at Hallie. “I’m staying.”
Cannibal stares down at his mate. “You did this exact same thing when they came for Ines,” he admits.
“And I was right that time too.”
He sighs. “I can’t keep you out of anything.” It comes out almost fond, even now, even with his claws already half-extended. “Not the mine, not a fight, not?—”
“You knew what I was like when you scented me.” She pats his enormous chest. “Go guard a door.”
He goes and guards a door.
“That leaves six crew and two females,” Chief remarks.
“Hallie goes in the center,” Heavy says, jerking his chin at my female. “Walls on every side. We stack around her.”
