sex—she left all of that to girls like Liora. Skye had had secret crushes, but she had never acted on them and had always ignored them.
In some ways, she continued to do that now. She didn’t want to see Jack again. The night before, that marvelous night, had to become a memory. She couldn’t lose focus or she would make mistakes.
And mistakes would cost too much—either she would lose her life or she would lose her freedom, at least for another few years. She worried about that more than dying; she’d either be imprisoned, or demoted within the Guild and forced to stay there.
Jack had stopped just outside the Starcatcher. He looked a little lost. Was he searching for her?
She took a deep breath and made herself look away from him. What he thought no longer mattered. She was done with him. She had to be.
She focused on Liora. A beer sat in front of her, untouched. Then a man put his hand on her back in a familiar way as he sat across from her. He grinned as if he knew her—and he must have, because Liora hadn’t jumped when he touched her. Nor had she reacted in any other way.
He was slight with scruffy brown hair, and a jacket that he kept pulled around him. Among the shady characters who made their way around Krell, he looked shadier than usual. Or maybe Skye just thought that because he was with Liora.
Skye hoped Liora would continue to disregard protocol. Because if she did, then Skye could find out what was happening. She had an enhancement that allowed her to focus her hearing the way she could focus her vision. But the Assassins Guild had jammers that blocked such equipment.
Apparently Liora wasn’t using her jammer, because her voice became stronger as Skye focused on it.
“You’re late,” Liora said to the man.
He shrugged. “I didn’t think you cared.”
“My time is precious,” she said.
Skye frowned. She’d never heard an assassin have a conversation like this, but then, maybe Liora was playing a role to get close to this guy. Although why she would need role-playing was beyond Skye. If this guy was the target, he’d be pretty easy to take out.
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.”
“
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.
