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“I barely felt you the first time. Guess you hear that complaint a lot from the girls you fuck.”

The Kelvane behind him smirked.

He shoved the tablet at me. “Details, bitch.”

Dead Stick’s financial system had a duress protocol. Monica built it after an attempted shakedown three years ago. You entered the routing code but swapped the third and seventh digits of your key. The system accepted the entry but then triggered a distress flag on every crew member’s comm. The transaction would fake process before the accounts locked.

If any of the crew had their comms live, they’d get a ping. If they were already looking for me, they’d get my location from the terminal’s network, so long as Kelvane encryption wasn’t better than ours.

It could be, but I trusted my crew with my life. They’d saved it more than once. They’d know I was missing, and so would Rennick. And they’d be on my ass. Trust the system I helped build. It won’t let me down.

“I’ll need to sit so I can see the screen. The codes are long, and I can’t type with my leg like this and my ribs crushed. It’s too painful.” I added a fake sob to my words.

The broader Kelvane hauled me upright by the back of my jacket and shoved me against the wall. My vision blurred, but I breathed through the pain the way I’d breathe through a detonation countdown. Slow. Measured.

I lifted the tablet. My fingers were steady as I keyed the routing code, got to the authorization key, and swapped the third and seventh digits, then hit confirm. The screen flashed green. Transaction accepted. Or so they thought.

“Done.” I turned the tablet.

The tall Kelvane picked it up, checked the confirmation, and tapped his comm. “Code accepted. Transfer is processing.”

Ninety seconds until the shit hit the fan. But it wouldn’t be a straight line. The crew would have to unpick what happened and get to this location. And I didn’t have time on my side.

The tall Kelvane kicked my leg again. Not for information this time, but because he could. Motherfucker had a thing for inflicting pain.

I shifted away, but didn’t make a sound. “Now what?”

“Now we wait for confirmation. Then we discuss your transport arrangements.” His expression didn’t change as he so calmly talked about murdering me. “Our instructions are specific.”

“Does specific include what happens to me after the money moves? I’m guessing I’m not getting dumped on a tropical island where they only serve drinks with umbrellas.”

“It does involve you getting dumped. Well, what’s left of you.” The fucker smirked and glanced over his shoulder. “Shall we have fun while we wait?”

“I’m first.” The broad Kelvane stopped close enough that I smelled the sour metal of his sidearm’s charge pack. His hand closed on the back of my neck, possessive and deliberate, fingers pressing into the tendons until my head tipped forward.

“Take your damn hand off me.”

“We’re not stupid. There are secondary protocols to getting those credits that require your fingerprint ID,” he said. “That amount of credit doesn’t leave without additional confirmation.”

“I said take your hand off me, or I stop complying and start screaming.”

“Scream all you like. It gets me hard.” The grip tightened. His other hand moved to my shoulder and pushed, angling me closer to his cock.

The younger Kelvane made a sound, but when I caught his eye, he wasn’t looking at me.

The jerk getting handsy grabbed his cock through the fabric. “How about we give you motivation not to fuck this up?”

“Nothing you’ve got in there will motivate me to do anything but fall asleep. Or maybe laugh.”

He bared his teeth and dragged me closer.

My vision flipped, and a memory slammed into me. It was alive and furious. Warmth exploded through my chest and spread down my arms into my fingertips, and for one disorienting second, I wasn’t in the room about to be a plaything to a dickhead with no conscience. I was on the bridge of the Hollow Chorus.

Rennick! I felt him.

The connection broke, and I gasped.

The Kelvane jerked his hand off my neck like I’d burned him. “What the fuck was that?” He stared at his palm. The skin was flushed, the veins underneath pulsing.