Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1)(87)

When I slammed into Beatriz racing around the next corner, I held on for dear life. I’d recognize her anywhere, even in a skinsuit. “What’re you doing here?”

She grabbed me back, talking so fast I couldn’t follow at first. “Are you okay? They claimed you were really sick and ordered me to come over to help. I suspected it was probably a trick, but I wasn’t sure. Then the lights went out, they went to check on you, but—”

“Breathe,” I said, giving her a little shake. “I need your big, sexy brain. Come on, Bea. We need a Plan E.”

“You must have already used Plans F and U.” She got out with a touch of sass.

Love this girl. We hugged each other tight while she thought, then she whispered in my ear, “I need an H2 and five minutes. Make sure I have both.”

“Understood. Don’t take your hood off. We might need the scrubbers. Or oxygen. And if you feel a breeze, hold on to something and try to grab Marko and Chao-Xing if they fly by.”

Laughing at her horrified expression, I hugged her again and ran off. First, I had to make sure that the other two couldn’t interfere. The gas wouldn’t last forever, so while they were still unconscious, I fashioned makeshift bonds out of their socks and belts and fastened them at wrist and ankle. To the Elder, I’m sure it looked like I was running aimlessly after that, but I didn’t want him to guess what door I needed to enter and lock it down.

My feint paid off. Plainly he wasn’t used to dealing with con artists. Gravity issues aside, Typhon wouldn’t last long down in the Zone. At the last moment I dodged into Marko’s quarters and wedged the door so he couldn’t lock me in. Luck was with me; he’d left his H2 on the table beside his bunk. Snatching it, I raced back to Beatriz, who was tapping a foot near the console. There was no way to seal this room down as it was the heart of the ship with corridors ranging off in four directions.

“What are we doing?” she asked, taking the tech.

“Think of it as boosting a car.”

“Nadim is not a car. Besides, I’ve never stolen anything.” Despite the worried tone of her bitching, she was already working on the H2. “There’s a conduit in the stern. I need to route some things there, and I need you to wait. I’ll see to the timer. When I get everything set, it’s imperative for us to hit this simultaneously.”

“We’re not, like, turning keys for a self-destruct sequence, are we?” That was too far, even for me, though part of me wondered exactly what I wouldn’t do for Nadim. Or Bea.

She snickered. “Don’t be ridiculous. Just trust me. I’m going to distract him. It’ll take too long to explain.”

“Okay. I’m on it.” I tossed her one of the stunners. “You never know, right?”

“Be careful.” With that, she ran off down a corridor, leaving me to pace.

“This is your last warning,” Typhon thundered. “I will kill you if you leave me no choice.”

“You can try.” Beatriz had reached a comm, wherever she was. It wouldn’t be long before she was slinging code into his systems, screwing with all his software and Earth tech. “We’re not afraid of you!”

She’d become a much better liar, and I laughed so loud that it hurt my throat. I’d wondered when he would speak up again. If I had an inkling how he thought, he’d been scanning for something, anything, that would eradicate Beatriz and me without hurting Marko and Chao-Xing. Two human lives might not amount to much in the grand scheme, but that failure would probably tarnish his reputation. Eventually trust would erode in his leadership. How long before other Elders decided Typhon was unfit to serve? Of course, this all might be bullshit human rationale, and I couldn’t hope to unravel the tangle of their politics.

Numbers came up on the console in front of me, counting down, just as she had promised. This was some kind of crazy-ass New Year’s Eve—with all our lives hanging in the balance. Finally, the timer clocked to zero, and as it did, I felt a shudder move through Typhon’s body. Nadim was fighting him; we’d been gone too long, both of us, and he must be terrified. He couldn’t win, but that didn’t matter. He’d be enraged at the idea of something happening to us.

Especially when that something involved Typhon.

Bea came back on comms. “When the numbers come up, I need you to key them in, Z. Timing is critical. Don’t screw it up.”

Shit, I’d never been a twitch-gamer. But this was a contest we simply could not lose.

Taking a steadying breath, I matched each flash, stroke by stroke, until the sequence was complete. Then I felt the lurch. At first I didn’t understand, but as the star charts flowered beneath my fingertips, I realized the monumental scale of what Beatriz had done. I broke out in chills, no, full-on goose bumps. With nothing more than an H2 and an access panel somewhere in the stern, she’d hacked an Elder Leviathan.

“And you wanted to wash her out!” I shouted with an air punch.

But if I knew anything, it was not to celebrate too soon. I took control of our course and sent Typhon in the opposite direction from the Gathering. I wouldn’t have control for long; the console wasn’t designed to fight for supremacy against a noncooperative Leviathan, but that wasn’t the point. It forced Typhon to split his attention yet again. We’d given him so many problems to untangle. Damn, I hoped it took long enough for us to get clear, and even as I piloted him off course, lights were popping red on the console.