Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion, #1)(23)

The tablet chirped, then the screen lit up with Welcome, Irena. Irena was one of my middle names and Irena Hasan was a burner identity that hadn’t yet been compromised. This tablet now belonged to her, along with all of her accounts that had been linked from the chip in my arm.

The tablet synced to both local and Universal Time. Because the sun never set on this planet, they had conveniently decided to stick with Universal Time. It was approaching noon. I had a feeling that my internal clock was going to have a hard time adjusting to constant twilight.

I checked my messages and found several from my older sister Bianca. I tried to keep her informed of my aliases and whereabouts, at least in general terms. In return, she let me know where House security was searching for me.

Hannah and Bianca were my two oldest sisters. Neither had married happily and they didn’t want their little sister to suffer the same fate. They’d quietly cheered my escape and funneled me money on the sly.

Bianca’s messages contained neither names nor specifics, but I knew everyone at home was fine just from the way they were written. However, there was an undercurrent of unease and an implicit plea for caution. That was worrisome.

I sent off a quick reply, letting her know in very oblique terms that Rockhurst was after me but that I was okay. We were both using insecure alias accounts, so there had to be a lot of reading between the lines.

I checked the news feeds and didn’t find any mention of unusual Rockhurst activity. If they were willing to risk House von Hasenberg’s wrath to capture me, I assumed that we were on the brink of war. Instead, it seemed like business as usual—a tense, hostile truce hidden behind a facade of friendship.

Digging deeper, I found hints of Rockhurst movement but nothing big enough to set off any alarms. Was I reading more into it than I should?

Either way, I needed to escape this planet.

The bank account I’d set up for this identity had plenty of funds to live on, but not enough to buy a ship. Even paying off Loch would be a stretch. I’d have to access my true account for additional funds, which meant I needed to have an escape plan ready or I’d get scooped up before I left the bank.

“Did they find our escape ship?” I asked. I slid out of bed and started pulling on yesterday’s clothes. Muscles throughout my body protested, but I was up and moving, so I’d work out the soreness before too long.

Loch glanced up then returned his attention to his com. I guess slowly pulling on a pair of men’s pants while moving like a little old lady wasn’t super alluring. “I didn’t see it at the spaceport,” he said, “but I assume so. If they’re smart, they left it in the canyon and either disabled it or put trackers on it.”

So returning to the escape ship was a nonstarter. A crazy idea occurred to me. “How nice is the unflagged merc ship?” I asked.

Loch looked up with a knowing grin. “It’s nice. I did a little recon earlier. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had House ship internals.”

That was both good and bad. If it really did have personal House Rockhurst engines and systems then it would be fast and capable. But it would also mean I would need much better and more recent information to steal it. “I need a new com,” I said. “Not that I don’t appreciate this one, but I need a secure model, preferably one made by House von Hasenberg.”

“It’ll cost you,” he warned. “And put you under scrutiny.”

“If I’m going to steal their ship—and I am—I need a secure channel. If you’d like to help, I’d appreciate it, but I understand if you want to take your money and run. The bank will be watched, but I’ll get it for you somehow if you want hard credit chips.” I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on my socks and boots.

“I promised to get you to a planet or station with an interstellar port. This hardly qualifies.”

I shrugged. “It’s close enough and you helped me escape the ship, which was my main objective. It would be safer for you to disappear into the dark half of the planet. Stealing a ship from a House is frowned upon.”

Loch laughed. “You’re good,” he said. “I can’t tell if you’re intentionally trying to manipulate me into helping you steal the ship or if you really think I should run.”

In point of fact, I wasn’t sure which I was doing, either. It would be much harder to take the ship on my own, but spending more time with Marcus Loch was dangerous in its own right.

“Either way,” he said, “I’m a man of my word, and I don’t think I’ve upheld my part of the bargain. You’re stuck with me awhile longer.”

I would feel better about his help—and his honor—if it didn’t come with the calculating look. “Okay, thanks,” I said. “First things first, I need a new com. Did you see anything that might work while you were out?”

“There are a couple options, but this town is mostly dead. This whole section is abandoned. It seems smuggler hunting isn’t paying the bills like it used to. Most people have moved on to greener pastures.”

A smaller town was worse for us. Getting lost in a big city was easy, but a new person in a small town always drew attention. “No one questioned where you came from?”

“The people I dealt with don’t question their customers. I spent credits and that’s all they cared about.”