The lance corporal walked Vas over to a different building. He wasn’t gentle getting him there or through the doors. When they arrived, his captor threw Vas to his knees. Adan’s shoulders ached from the jolts of pain he’d received while being led around by his bound arms.

But now the captain was left alone long enough to look around. The massive room was dark and full of unfamiliar shapes.

“Where are we?” Vas asked.

“A disposal center. The Supremacy uses them to get rid of unwanted waste that can’t be recycled and shouldn’t be left lying around.”

Vas chuckled. “I’ll bet there’s a lot of chemicals around here that could help get rid of a body.”

“Containers too, Mr. Vas.”

“May I see your face?” Vas tried to turn his head, but his cheekbone scraped along the muzzle of the e-pistol.

“Why?” the lance corporal asked.

Vas swallowed. “You called them ‘the Supremacy’—not ‘we.’ I think I may have figured out where I’ve seen your face before.”

The lance corporal slowly walked around until he was in front of Vas. He kept his weapon trained on his prisoner, as if Adan was a pivot point. He was also careful to stay a few steps away.

Vas shook his head and laughed again. “You’re from Home Base, aren’t you?”

“I was on Home Base, yes.”

“Another traitor?” Vas couldn’t seem to stop chuckling. “How many of you were there?”

“Fewer than you’d think.”

“Were you a Supremacy plant, or did you decide to betray us for some reason?”

The lance corporal tilted his head. “Why are you laughing, Captain Vas? You’re about to die. You must know that.”

Vas managed to control himself. “Yes. I know I’m probably going to die.”

“I can see you’re scared—but you’re smiling even now.”

“I came into this knowing that I might never make it out. You do what you have to when it’s important.”

“I understand that. That’s not the part that’s confusing me. How can you be laughing?”

Vas shrugged. “Maybe that’s how I deal with fear. Or maybe I’m suffering from optimism bias.”

“Optimism? What have you got to be optimistic about?”

“Maybe I think I’m only probably going to die.”

Vas launched himself at the lance corporal. His captor pulled the trigger. The blast went off to the side. They both tumbled back into a tangle of boxes. A hard metal frame shunted them into the wall, cracking both their heads. Without waiting for his head to clear, Vas struggled to his feet and ran, sometimes having to lean against a wall for support.

The room was crowded with machines, boxes, and bins. He ducked into a space between two pallets of bundled trash and worked to get his hands out from behind his back. His shoulders protested with wrenching flashes of pain, but he finally got his wrists under his legs and in front of him. Since they had found his picks during their security search, he didn’t bother looking too closely at the cuffs. The only thing they’d missed was the button transmitter, and now even that was gone.

He crept forward, listening for any sounds. How much time would they have before people started coming in for work? Would it be more dangerous or less dangerous to try to escape then?

The traitor was coming up the alley between the debris and the machines. Vas flattened himself back into the shadow of his hiding spot. When the lance corporal passed him, he came out, dropped his cuffed hands around the man’s neck, and yanked back. The e-pistol clattered to the floor.

Vas tried to get him off balance so he could finish choking him, but the lance corporal turned so only the back of his neck was against the cuffs. He hit Vas in the stomach, then struck the inside of the captain’s elbow, forcing Adan’s grip to widen enough he could slip out. The lance corporal freed himself with a side-step that left the captain’s back exposed for a hard punch to the ribs that drove Adan to the ground.

Vas had fallen on something. He scrabbled for it with both hands as he rolled over. He raised the e-pistol and fired at the figure above him.

The blast tore out the lance corporal’s left shoulder before hitting the ceiling and scattering harmlessly into nothing.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

For a brief second, both Vas and the corporal were too stunned to move. The captain recovered first, firing three more shots that he never thought he’d have. When the body dropped to the floor, Vas closed his eyes and lay back.

The man had been a Rising traitor on Home Base only a short time ago; the Supremacy wouldn’t have had a weapon bound to him. It made sense. It was logical. But it felt like a gift from God, so as he rested there, his eyes still closed, Vas breathed his thanks.

There wasn’t much time for him to relax. He didn’t know what planet time was or when the workers would show up. He forced himself to crawl over to the remains of the lance corporal and search the body. The key and chip to undo the cuffs were there, but he lost almost a half hour before he was able to get himself out.

He stood up, rubbing his raw, much-abused wrists, picked up the e-pistol, and tried to leave.

The first door he came to required a retinal scan and ID. He kicked it repeatedly, cussing loudly, until he felt better. He went back to the main room of the workshop, found a window that looked vulnerable, and broke it using a handy scrap of machinery. As alarms blared everywhere around him, he climbed up the stacked boxes of waste. He smashed out the rest of the glass shards with the butt of the e-pistol, then jumped to the street below.

He tried to seem only mildly interested as the peacekeepers poured by him. When he found a place likely to have a public restroom, he went inside.

At one of the three sinks, he tried to clean up the gash he’d gotten high on his forehead when it had slammed into the wall. The blood washed away easily enough, but there was nothing he could do about the nasty bump or the yellow and black bruise coming in.

A man came into the bathroom. He and Vas glanced at each other in the mirrors, then went back to ignoring each other. As the man washed his hands, Vas continued dabbing at the slowing blood flow.

“What happened to you?” the man asked. He glanced at Vas in the mirror again. “It looks painful.” His voice was friendly. He probably wouldn’t press the issue if Adan didn’t want to chat.

Vas smiled. “I got in a fight. Over a girl.”

The man smiled back at him. “It’s always the same old story, isn’t it? Did you win?”

“The fight? Or the girl?”

They both laughed. When the man went into one of the stalls, Vas lifted his ID card from the jacket he’d left on the counter.

An hour later, Adan was at the port where Ciro and Lynx were waiting. The stolen card got him through the doors. When he reached the security checkpoint, he took the e-pistol and tossed it through the scanners with another passenger. In the resulting confusion of shouting, threats, and drawn weapons, he was able to slip past the guards without having them ask for his retinal.

He hurried to the main hub of the port. There was the Golondrina, her ramp already lowered to admit him.

When he walked on board, Ciro was in the pilot’s seat, trying to balance a stylus on the bridge of his nose. Lynx was on the main deck, lit up and active.

The bot turned as Vas entered. “Your head, Captain!”

“You can dress it in velox, Lynx. Ciro, raise the ramp.”

Ciro put his feet down and entered the command to raise the ramp from the pilot’s console.

“Where is Miss Reyer?” the robot asked as the entry way closed beside him.

“Gone,” Vas said. He went up to the cockpit.

“Did everything go as planned?” Ciro asked.

Adan jerked his thumb, motioning for his little brother to vacate his seat. “Yes,” he grumbled as he sat down. “Everything went according to plan.”

“Miss Reyer has been captured?” Lynx asked.

Vas didn’t answer.

Ciro sat down in the copilot’s chair. “Don’t worry, Lynx, it’s all a part of the mission.”

Vas flicked the standard switches and checked to make sure the systems were ready to go. “Getting her captured was not my mission—it was the exact opposite of my mission.” He slammed his hand against the control wheel. “God damn it! How did I get talked into this?”

“I know,” Ciro said. “She didn’t even have to use your first name.”

Ciro held up both his hands when he saw the death glare his brother was giving him. His surrender must have been accepted; Vas turned away from him to yell back at Lynx. “Secure yourself. We have to get going.” He faced forward. “Can we fly out of here now, or do we get to break something and maybe hurt some people?”

“We had permission to depart as soon as my passenger arrived,” Ciro said. “Are you all right, Adan?”

Vas pulled the ship away from the landing pad. “I don’t know who has her. They aren’t the normal Supremacy. We knew they’d be military, but I think it’s worse than that.” He shifted in his seat, then slammed himself into the back of his chair, trying to get comfortable. “They just tried to kill me.”

“But…I thought that was normal.”

“Not when you’ve already been captured, you’re unarmed, and you’re cuffed. That’s not Supremacy policy. The guy knew it too. That’s why he took me somewhere he knew he could dispose of the body.” Vas turned to Ciro. “I don’t know who has her, but they’re not nice people.”

He pulled the ship away from port and shot out into space, slowing once he cleared the atmosphere.

“You got the tracker on someone, right?” Ciro asked.

“I attached it to the major who’s been chasing her.”

“That’s perfect. They’ll search her, but I doubt they’ll search a major.” Ciro picked up a tablet. “We’ll pick up where they are whenever he walks near an active wireless unit.” Before Ciro finished speaking, there was a beep. “I have a signal from right before he went into velox. Go around planet.” He pointed to the right. “We’ll get better signal.”

Vas pulled the ship along the curve of the world below. The lights of the city fell behind them. “Can we trace them in velox?”

Ciro shook his head. “We’ll have to wait until they come out again—and then the signal will have to travel back to us.”

Vas grimaced.

“We know where she is,” Ciro assured him. “We know they were emphatic about her being taken alive, so she shouldn’t be in danger. We’re going to get her back.”

Vas tried to get comfortable in his seat again.

“Captain,” Lynx said, “your erratic full-body fidgeting indicates that you are agitated. Is this accurate?”

“Yes.”

“You sound irritated as well, sir.”

“Sorry,” Ciro said, his eyes on the tablet. “I’ve been working on his emotional recognition program. He’s probably testing it out.”

Vas sighed. “I just want to get Miss Reyer back as soon as possible,” he yelled to the bot.

“That is understandable, sir. You seem to enjoy her company.”

Ciro snorted. “Careful. If you were crushing on her any harder, even Lynx would pick up on it.”

Vas raised his arm and emphatically pushed his extended middle finger toward his brother’s face.