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Striker looked at his dirty clothing. “Give me two minutes.”

“You’ve got thirty seconds. Meet you in the gym.” Rexx turned and walked away.

Striker chuckled. Rexx was always a hard ass. He had the occasional soft second but only about once a decade.

He caught up with him in the gym. They rolled through some warm-ups before bouncing onto the fight mat that sat off to one side of the room.

Rexx eyed him in his usual cool, expressionless way. “You’ve got a lot of energy.”

“There’s nothing new there.”

“I reckon there is. You’re not usually this keyed up.” Rexx cracked his neck. “What gives?”

“Nothing gives. Everything is good.”

“You’re not sore because of the whole sapo exploding thing?” Rexx circled him, looking for a way past his defenses.

“There’s nothing to be sore about. Even you have mission failures.”

“One in every twenty.”

“You see. Everyone has an off day.”

“Yeah, but you screwed the pooch on this one. I know the mission briefs are as dull as a sermon given by High Command, but the information avoids total fuck ups.”

“You’re saying I’m a total fuck up?”

“Nope.”

“You’re telling me you read every mission brief you’re given?”

“Not all of them. Not when I know the creatures.” He jabbed out a large fist.

Striker dodged and parried with a blow. “We’ll get the next one.”

“Wren will, you mean.”

“Maybe. I still have my uses.”

“You’re a great punching bag.” Rexx slung out a fist.

Striker ducked and jabbed him in the ribs. “Whatever you say.”

“I saw her in the lab.”

Striker lowered his guard. “Wren?”

“Yep.”

“She’s supposed to rest before our next mission. She always gets keyed up before we go out. I keep threatening to sedate her if she doesn’t get enough sleep.”

Rexx caught him with a punch, and he staggered back.

“Never lose focus. That’s when things go wrong. And I know you. You get bored easily.”

Striker lifted his guard again, but his gaze was on the door. He should see what Wren was working on. Force her to take a break. But he remained on the fighting pad with Rexx.

She hated him. She may have saved his butt in the briefing room, but that was because she was a decent person. She looked out for him when he didn’t deserve it.