“Shame to be leaving so soon,” Solomon said.
Nik glanced his way. “We’ll be back. How are you feeling?”
The younger man spread his arms. “All healed.”
“Thanks for diving in front of me.”
“And saving your life.”
Nik fought a smile. “Possibly.”
Jonas grinned. “I owed you. Now we’re even.”
“You still owe Nera.”
The young treasure hunter winced. “Don’t remind me.”
Nik laughed. “You did good work on this hunt. I think you’re well on your way to that reputation you’re so hungry for.”
Another grin. “I still have to knock your brother off his perch as the best treasure hunter in the galaxy.”
“Good luck with that.” Nik held out a hand and they shook.
Jonas winked. “I like a challenge.”
As the treasure hunter left, Galen walked into the room, and Nik’s mellow feeling evaporated. He turned back to the window, and Galen joined him.
After a long moment, Nik sighed. “I owe you an apology.”
“No, you don’t.” The other man crossed his hands at the small of his back. “When I accepted the job, I knew I had to alienate everyone.” He glanced at Niklas. “Even my best friend. When I saw what they did to you…I wanted to catch them more than ever.”
“Dammit. You are making me feel even guiltier, Galen. I hated you. I hated what you’d become.”
“Good. Because I was playing the part of a pretty bad dude.” A small smile. “Your reaction told me I was doing a believable job, and it helped solidify my cover.”
Nik rubbed his forehead. “I need a drink.”
“There happens to be a mighty fine Jaarlan whiskey in the cabinet over here.” Galen walked to a small, built-in bar. He pulled out two glasses and a bottle of amber liquid. He set the glasses on the food printer. “Computer, ice.” After several cubes tinkled into the glasses, he splashed a generous portion of whiskey into them and held one out to Niklas. “I did what I had to do to bring down the bastards in the Institute. They were breaking the law and getting worse as each year went by. Avril wasn’t just planning to sell the artifacts she found here. She’d already made deals to sell off any viable biological samples that could be used for the creation of biological weapons.”
“The zombies.” Fuck, the woman was worse than Nik had thought.
“Yes.” Galen swirled his whiskey then lifted his glass. “To better days for the Institute.”
“Yeah.” Niklas took a large sip. The whiskey was good. “I’ll drink to that.”
“After I get back, the evidence I’ve collected on this trip will finally be everything I need to send a lot of the higher-ups at the Institute to prison.”
Nik wouldn’t lie. He felt a savage sense of satisfaction. “Good.”
“It will create a lot of openings. The Institute will need people like you, Nik.”
He froze. “What?”
“People who care about history, preservation, about safeguarding the pieces of our past for those in the future to admire.”
Nik took another sip and this time the fine whiskey burned a little. He thought about sitting at a desk in a fancy corner office in one of the grand museums in the central systems. Or of hours studying artifacts in the research labs.
But one thing was wrong.
