“Marlow?” I asked.
Anderson Marlow moved into view—rangy and elegantly dressed. He leaned on the back of Van Veen’s chair, and bent to look at the screen. “Hi Danny. You’re planning on heading for the ship’s last known, I presume. Just wondering what quadrant that is.”
“When I know myself, I’ll pass it on,” I told him. “Somewhere remote, I suspect, or someone would have noticed a ship in distress. They would have picked up the beacon at the very least.”
“It’s a wildcat ship,” Dalton said, lifting his voice so he’d be heard by everyone listening in on this conversation—and that number was multiplying by the second.
Another what the fuck? tried to burst out of me. I ground my teeth together until the impulse passed, but mentally jotted yet another question on my long list.
What was Mace doing on a wildcat ship?
“Then somewhere remote indeed,” Jai concluded, with a heavy exhale.
I was already getting bogged down in details I didn’t think we had the time to hash out. “Once we get moving, I can discuss this properly. This is a courtesy call.”
“You’re not going to make our meeting,” Marlow concluded.
Even though I was facing the screen and Dalton was behind me, I still sensed him stiffen and grow still.
“Probably not,” I replied carefully. “I don’t know why you wanted to see me, but this takes priority, no matter what it was.”
That was another small lie. I had a damn good idea what Marlow and Jai wanted. It was another job, one of the projects, assignments and gigs they had handed out for…oh, decades. I would have stopped taking on their dirty work long before now, except the work was important. Saving-humanity-level important.
Those two, between them, knew everyone of any influence across the known systems. They had done more than anyone to pull the remnants of the old Carinad empire out of its death spiral, made us pull together and work toward a future that only they seemed to fully see.
There was no empire anymore. No central government of any kind. When systems needed to coordinate to get something done, it was often Jai and Marlow in the center of that work, directing it. Everyone knew who they were, and their role in the last days of the Empire and the defeat of the array. It gave them power of a kind.
They were as close to being leaders of the known worlds as anyone was comfortable with, these days.
Besides, they always paid better than anyone else in the galaxy. With my debt load, I couldn’t afford to be choosy about my work.
Vara whined, next to me. Her tail thumped.
I refocused on Jai and Marlow. “Vara would like to say hello to someone.”
Jai smiled and beckoned with his fingers to someone out of the range of his screen.
I heard soft padding steps, then Coal moved into view, put his forepaws on the arm of Jai’s chair and lifted himself up to peer at the screen. His tail wagged and his tongue lolled.
He was very nearly as black as his name, except when he moved, his fur turned silver as the light played over it, with dark grey ripples. His appearance was mesmerizing—especially when he fixed his dull gold-eyed gaze upon you. With a jolt, I noticed for the first time that Coal’s and Marlow’s eyes were nearly identical in color.
Vara balanced on her front paws on the edge of the terminal dashboard, and gave a soft whine, staring at her brother on the screen.
Behind me, Darb’s tail thumped on the coverlet. He gave a soft yip.
Coal yapped back. Marlow scratched between his ears and Coal panted happily.
“Let us know what you find, Danny,” Jai said. “Let us know if we can help.”
“Thank you, I will.” I disconnected and put the terminal in sleep mode. I’d disabled all lenses except the screen, scrubbed a dozen spy programs and archives out of existence before making the call to Jai, but I still didn’t trust the public terminal to not passively record anything it heard in the room “for our own safety and convenience”.
Then I turned to face Dalton and Fiori. Fiori had finished ordering food and stood with her back against the wall opposite the bed Dalton sat upon. She looked like she was propping herself up. I wondered how much sleep she’d got, lately.
Dalton wasn’t slouching wearily anymore. He gripped his hands together, between his knees, staring at me. I raised a brow at him, knowing what was coming.
“Fiori,” Dalton said, his voice low. “Would you mind stepping out? I want to talk to Danny for a moment.”
Fiori straightened instantly. “Of course. I’ll go see what’s taking the concierge so long with our bags.”
She stepped out of the room and let the door seal with a heavy click, leaving us alone with the two parawolves, facing each other.
—3—
For one long minute, Dalton didn’t move.
Then he sighed. “You were heading for Triga in a couple of days.”
“Not for anything urgent,” I assured him. “Marlow contacted me nearly two weeks ago, now.”
Dalton’s tension didn’t ease at hearing it had been a longer-held appointment than his short-notice visit. “You didn’t let them know you wouldn’t be there. Not until just now.”
A few decades ago, I might have done something—anything, really, to duck such a conversation. But I had been through harder conversations than this with Dalton since then. So I kept my gaze steady. “You didn’t give me any reason to think I should cancel with Jai and Marlow.”
He shot up off the bed and onto his feet, driven by an emotion that made his jaw flex and his eyes to glitter. “You knew why I was coming here!”
“I hoped,” I said, keeping my voice down.
He shook his head. Nope, he wasn’t going to let me get away with that prevarication at all. “You knew, Danny. You knew. That has always been understood. Even Fiori knew it. Twenty-five years,
