Mission: Planet Biter (Veslor Mates #4)(57)

“You’re not a cook. You wouldn’t know that for certain,” Danver argued.

“No, I’m not.” Vera glared at him. “But I’ve been on many survey teams, and guess what? Every cook asks for help from time to time. Especially if it’s someone’s birthday or a holiday. It happens on every assignment. I’m usually the nice one who gets suckered into scanning the label of those boxes to search for a frozen cake or canned something or other. It’s always Krongon Foods printed on those boxes. On every job.”

“None of this matters.” Marcy Piers stood. “We’ll discuss this on the shuttle. It’s time to leave.”

“Sit back down,” Trowly snapped. “You gave me a falsified list of suspects if you did hire people off a space station. No one is going anywhere until I say otherwise. That won’t be until after you give me an honest list of suspects.”

“And I quit,” Vera blurted.

Trowly, Danver, and Marcy Piers gaped at her.

“I quit,” Vera repeated. “I’ll be officially sending notice to New Worlds as soon as I get access to a data pad. I’m not going back to Earth, and definitely not with you two. I didn’t have anything to do with what happened on Biter, beyond being a victim. You’re not going to try to pin any of this bullshit on me.” Her gaze locked on the other woman. “Especially if you’re the one who hired the asshole or assholes who put those canisters inside the vents.”

“You are going back with us. We don’t accept your resignation.” Danver glared at Vera.

“You won’t be taking my mate anywhere.” Roth released her hand and stepped forward, putting himself a little in front of Vera.

“She’s returning to Earth!” Danver rose to his feet. “Miss Wade is the only employee left alive. Corporate demands that we bring her in. They have questions that she will be answering directly to them, since she refuses to cooperate with us.”

Trowly stood as well. Vera’s heart pounded at his angry expression. Would he try to make her leave against her will? She had no doubt Roth would get into a physical altercation to protect her. That could get him arrested. She didn’t want that.

But Trowly turned on Danver. “You won’t be forcing Miss Wade to leave with you. As you pointed out, she’s the only remaining witness to the crime that took place on the planet. Fleet is now in charge of this investigation.” Then he turned his head, glaring at Marcy Piers. “It seems you may have motive to push some blame onto Miss Wade, if you’re the one who hired whoever placed that illegal drug on your work site.”

Vera breathed out in relief and placed her hand on Roth’s back. He felt tense under her palm. She appreciated that he was protecting her, keeping her slightly behind him.

“I demand a complete list of names of everyone who had access to your job site.” Trowly almost shouted the words. “Sit down, Mr. Danver.”

Danver paled and quickly sat. So did Marcy Piers.

Trowly retook his seat too. “Miss Piers, I suggest you inform your pilot that you both will be delayed indefinitely. Neither of you are leaving until I’m satisfied. The fleet doesn’t take kindly to being lied to.” He addressed Clark last. “For now, Miss Wade isn’t needed. You, her, and the Veslors can leave.” He looked at Vera. “Please keep close to Mr. Roth in case I have questions. I’ll reach you through his com link.”

Roth turned, wrapped an arm around Vera, and herded her to the door. The grouping and Clark followed them out of the conference room and they all walked out of security.

Clark whistled when they reached the lift, waiting for the doors to open. “That didn’t go the way I thought it would.”

“We still don’t know who attempted to harm Vera with poison,” Roth grunted. “Or who hurt her on the planet.”

“No,” Clark sighed. “But we now have a better lead on how those drug canisters ended up where they did. And someone bribed someone on this ship to poison Vera. I’d bet a chunk of my pension that they also bribed a stationer who got hired by New Worlds temporarily to put those pods together on Biter. Jobs are hard to come by for some of those people, and some wouldn’t care about killing if the price was right. George will get his answers and let us know what he’s uncovered. He’s a great investigator.”

Vera leaned against Roth. She just wanted to go back to their cabin.

Clark met her gaze. “How many companies are there like yours?”

“Besides New Worlds, there’s Origins, Gemini, Aurora, and Maximus.”

“Do any of them have a reputation of playing dirty when they lose a bid?” The lift opened and Clark entered first, turning to glance back at Vera for her answer.

“Not that I’ve heard about.” She shrugged as she and Roth entered the lift.

“Get down!” a deep male voice suddenly roared. It sounded like Drak.

Vera hit the wall hard as Roth shoved her against the side of the lift. He used his body to pin her there, shielding her.

Then a big hole appeared on the back wall of the lift, barely missing Clark’s head. He dropped to his knees, grabbing one of his laser blasters.

The smell of burning metal filled her nose. Someone had shot at them.

More laser fire sounds filled her ears and alarms blared from somewhere outside the open doors of the lift. Terror struck hard as Vera realized they were under attack.