Maybe he was supposed to lead her to the target.
“There are things about this job that make it difficult,” Liora said.
Skye twirled the straw in her fizzy drink, keeping her head down, but listening closely. She had no idea what was going on, but she didn’t like it.
“You are the third in line,” Liora said. “I’ll reserve your time, but there’s a good chance that we won’t need your services at all.”
“I find it ironic that you’re even talking to me,” the guy said.
“If you don’t want the work—”
“Oh, it’s interesting,” he said. “I’m all in. My team is all in. Just let us know when you need us.”
“If we need you,” Liora said. “Give me an account to send the information. I’d rather not discuss the rest of this in person.”
The man chuckled. “And here I thought sending it would be dicier.”
“No one will know who the job came from except you,” Liora said. “And the payment will go through so many accounts that even the best accountant couldn’t track it.”
Skye felt cold. What was going on? She wanted to turn around and just ask, but knew better. In fact, she really had to make sure Liora didn’t see her at all, because there was something very, very wrong here.
“It’s not my neck,” the guy said. “Everyone already thinks I’m a criminal. But you, you’re Assassins Guild. You have light and right on your side.”
“Or I will when this is done,” Liora said. “I’ll send everything to you.”
“I’ll be waiting with bated breath,” he said.
“Whatever that means.”
A movement caught Skye’s eye, and she bowed her head. Liora was leaving the table. Skye leaned forward just a little so she could see around the obese man.
Liora didn’t look back. She headed out of the bar as if nothing had happened.
Skye resisted the urge to glance at the guy Liora had met. Skye already had a good image of him, and would track down who he was when she had a private net connection. She didn’t want to try looking up anything in a place this public.
She sat for just a moment, wondering if she should follow Liora. Skye had other work she needed to do—an entire list of people she should be vetting for the Guild—but lately a lot of strange behavior had surfaced while she worked other jobs, behavior involving the Guild, behavior she didn’t understand.
And because she didn’t understand it, she investigated. Unlike so many of her colleagues, she didn’t care if something happened to the Guild. In fact, she rather hoped it would.
That way, she could get out sooner.
Or maybe, just maybe, the right information might free her. And maybe Liora would lead her to that information, whatever the hell it was.
Chapter 8
Jack stood outside the small fence that enclosed the Starcatcher’s open-air section. He felt shaken. He didn’t usually feel shaken. Tired, yes, or maybe even unsettled, but shaken was new. Or old.
He hadn’t felt shaken since he was twelve. A horrible young couple had promised him they would adopt him, and then turned around and adopted another boy in Tranquility House. That boy, the staff had told Jack, was better behaved, smarter, and just plain nicer.
Jack hadn’t talked to anyone for days. He felt like his entire world had fallen apart.
And, oddly, he had felt like that since he left Skye.
That coldness in her eyes as he got dressed reminded him of the couple. They had seemed so loving at first, and then they had rejected him.
He knew he was reacting out of an old, old place, and Skye hadn’t rejected him at all. She had told him, right from the start, what she expected—and he had agreed to that expectation.
The fact that the entire incident had disturbed him was about him, not her. And about his damn heart.
He hadn’t realized how very vulnerable it was.
He scanned the open-air section of Starcatcher for Rikki Bastogne. She had called this meeting and he had suggested the place, much as she hated it.
She had been his only friend in the early years of Tranquility House. In fact, she was the one who suggested he stop waiting for someone to parent him, and to take care of himself. She had even told him to pick his own last name.
He was glad he would see her today. But it seemed she hadn’t arrived yet. Most of the tables were full, but she wasn’t at any of them.
Neither was Skye, not that he expected to see her again. If she followed her plan, she was probably gone already. His heart ached at the thought.
He had no idea how to find her again, or how she would feel if he did.
He wondered if she had thought the night as special as he had or if she had just led him on.
Not that it mattered. It was one night. He had to remember that, and be grateful for that much. If he hadn’t had last night, he would never have known how spectacular lovemaking could feel.
He took a table near the concourse, and ordered his favorite burger from the robotic server that floated near him. He also got a special soda this time and he would drink it. All of it.
Hell, he might even treat himself to a beer later.
Given the year he’d had so far, he deserved it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Skye. But when he turned, he realized he was looking at a woman who had the same body shape and wedge-cut dark hair. Other than that, she looked nothing like Skye. Her face was hardened, her mouth downturned into a perpetual scowl.
She was a woman he didn’t want to cross, one of the many people on Krell he hoped he would never see again.
The burger arrived. He took a bite, and then saw Rikki make her way down the concourse. Her hair was red instead of its usual rich brown, and she looked a little too thin. Something had shaken her up.
He felt a momentary sense of disappointment. All morning he had been looking forward to confiding in her. But he didn’t think he’d have a chance now.
He hadn’t seen Rikki look this upset since he’d met her. When she first arrived at Tranquility House she had been through such a traumatic experience, she hadn’t talked for weeks. It wasn’t until that night those horrible potential adoptive parents had rejected him that she had said anything, and then it had been to give him advice.
The least he could do was listen to her. After all, she had contacted him. She clearly didn’t need to hear his problems right now.
She grinned when she saw him, then stopped next to the table. She picked up a spoon and rubbed some dirt off it.
“I can’t believe you’re eating here,” she said as she picked up a napkin and wiped off a chair. Then she spread another napkin on the chair itself.
He said, “I can’t believe you’re going to sit on that. I think they wash the napkins less than they wash the chairs.”
She started and for a minute, he thought she was going to shove the chair away. Instead, she turned just a little green.
“Then I’m just going to stand,” she said.
He grinned. He had missed her. She had been his best friend forever, and she still was, no matter what was going on. Their relationship was purely platonic and would always be that way. He thought of her as his sister, not as the beautiful woman she had become.
“Hover,” he said, his mouth full. “You’re just going to hover.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You could be a gentleman and give me your jacket to sit on.”
“My jacket has been staying in this hellhole for the past three days, waiting for her ladyship to arrive.” As if that had been all he was doing here. He was still investigating, even though he had enough evidence against the Rovers to… what? That was what he hadn’t yet figured out.
She muttered something, then gave up and sat down.
They bantered for a few more minutes because that was their routine—that was how they felt comfortable. Then they’d get to the important stuff.