Page 14

“I need a bit longer.”

“Do you have your laser cutter?”

Ry stilled. “You want me to cut a hole in the shuttle bay doors?”

Dare nodded. “Do it.”

With a shake of his head, his brother yanked a small tool off his belt. He hit a button and there was a flare of orange light.

He cut through the metal.

Dare waited impatiently. Ry moved the cutter in an arc, cutting a small hole. When he reached the floor, Dare stepped forward and kicked the metal in.

Quickly, he stooped through the hole. Then he was up and sprinting across the shuttle bay. He heard the shuttle’s engines start up.

“Dare? Rynan?” It was Justyn’s voice coming through their earpieces. “Somehow, she’s accessed the shuttle bay doors. They’ll open in about ten seconds.”

Fuck. Dare reached the shuttle. He had a master code to access all systems on the Nomad. He punched it in and waited.

Nothing happened. Dammit. Surely, she couldn’t have locked him out?

Then the doors opened.

He rushed into the shuttle. She was at the controls, and when she saw him coming, she cursed well enough to make a starfreighter crew proud.

The shuttle lifted off the ground and jerked to the right.

Dare stumbled and slammed into the wall. He grabbed onto the back of the seats in the shuttle and pulled himself forward.

“It’s over, Dakota.”

“It’s never over, not until I stop fighting.”

The shuttle jerked to the left, scraping against Ry’s Pathfinder.

Enough. He lunged, reaching for her. He grabbed her shoulder and leaned over her to get to the controls.

As they struggled, the shuttle surged again. He gripped the seat hard to stay on his feet. Dakota didn’t have the pilot’s harness fastened, and she flew out of her seat and hit the floor. She tumbled back, her head smacking against the console. He heard a horrible thud.

She didn’t make a sound. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped down.

Dammit. Dare quickly landed the shuttle and cut the engines. As he rushed over to her, he heard Ry hurrying in.

“Dakota!” There was blood matting her hair at the back of her head. So much blood.

He scooped her up. “I need to get her to the med bay. Now.”

She felt groggy as hell.

Dakota slowly opened her eyes, feeling like she was swimming up through sticky goo. She blinked at the bright lights, and realized she was lying on a bed. Something arched above her. A med scanner. She tried to move, and heard something clank. She looked over and saw her wrist was secured to the bed with a blue, glowing electro-cuff.

Panic was an ugly, slimy feeling in her throat. She hated being restrained. She’d been caught and cuffed as a teen. Her gang captors hadn’t had pretty plans for her.

She tried to sit up, moving too fast, and her head spun.

“Take it easy. You took a hard knock to that hard head of yours.”

Dare. She turned her head slowly and saw that he was sitting in a chair beside her bed. It looked like they were in the ship’s med bay. “Uncuff me.”