“Anything else?”
“No.” Karnek pounded away on the keys, his head hanging.
“You said they were making a delivery?” Varik tried for a more approving tone. Despite what he’d told Karnek earlier, it was tough finding good help.
Karnek slid a few screens off-view and brought up a manifest. One he shouldn’t be able to see. Maybe the communications expert had some value after all. “Small load from Kolben. Six crew. One passenger. One service animal.”
Service animal? “Wait, passenger?”
“Yes, sir. No name, but definitely says passenger. That ship is rated for universal transport. Few mods, and it could be a pleasure cruiser.” Karnek waggled his thick brows.
Varik clenched his jaw. Could have been his pleasure cruiser. But the passenger. And six crew members. “Can you pull up their manifest from when they left Cassan?”
Karnek leaned forward, fingers flying.
“Four crew, one humanoid transport.”
Varik paced across the short distance of the bridge and back. Cyra, the filthy whore. Veda, the bowl of pudding. Doc had retired. Blaize, the traitorous cunt. The pink-eyed freak. And a contracted delivery to Kolben. Humanoid.
Jarn had to be on The Treasure. There was no other explanation. He was alive. Varik’s chest ballooned. His steps lightened. He hadn’t killed his lover. Again.
“Alright, what’s the computer found? How fast can we get to Cassan? I don’t care how much fuel we burn. Any scenario.”
Karnek sat straighter and clicked away. “Three possible options.”
“Bring them fullscreen.”
The viewscreen that showed the stars and vast blackness of space shifted to an opaque white display before three maps were displayed, tiled next to each other. Varik closed in on the screen, examining each option. He stepped back to see all three at once.
“Fuel variance ten percent,” he called out.
A red overlay appeared on the second image. “That one. Program that route.”
“Another ER bridge?” Karnek grimaced. “But?—”
Varik glared at him, letting the man’s death fill his eyes.
“Yes, Captain.”
Varik left the bridge and locked himself in his quarters. Jarn. His lover was alive and would be in his arms, underneath him. The hum of the engines firing vibrated through the soles of his boots. If Cyra had managed to get Jarn off Kolben, he might let her live.
Soon. His love would be back in his arms soon.
Chapter 9
Cifer glanced toward his cell door. A moment later, the wriggly pup—who seemed to have grown—pounced forward, held back by the big gray security male, Dez. “Mind if we visit?”
“Could use the company.” Cifer sat up.
Dez opened the door, and Princess bounded in, raced to Cifer, and sniffed him all over. Cifer wrestled the pup off his lap, then his bed, and then off his lap again.
“She seems to think you have something for her.”
Cifer shrugged. “I may have given her a treat the first time we met.”
“Ah, that explains it.” Dez pointed at the empty half of the bunk with a questioning expression.
“Have a seat.” Cifer hoped the unsettled concern that flowed through him didn’t show on the outside.
