Kayla woke up disoriented and confused. Rubbing her eyes, she wondered if the scotch had something to do with it. She was still dressed in Jinx’s clothes, and she recognized Carl’s private quarters. With horror, she recalled what she’d told Carl. Shame and embarrassment flooded through her as she dropped her head in her hands.

Not only did she practically throw herself at him, she’d turned into a blubbering idiot and poured her heart out. Feeling raw and wanting to escape, she stood up and crossed the darkened room toward Carl’s office. His light was on, and she could hear two low voices talking. She paused outside the door, not willing to face anyone until she got her emotions under control.

“That’s some nasty business if Ramiro tried to force himself on Kayla and killed that poor kid.”

Kayla started, recognizing Cruncher’s voice. Shame quickly turned to anger at the realization they were discussing her. This was exactly why she didn’t talk about her personal life. She should have known better than to trust a trader with her secrets.

“It fits,” Carl was saying. “It explains why Pretz was in a cleared sector that day. It also explains why Ramiro’s determined to get rid of Kayla and Veridian. When OmniLab finds out what he did and how he killed one of his employees, they’ll strip his status and freeze his assets.”

Kayla didn’t want to hear anymore. Backing away, she stumbled to the other door leading out to the hallway. She grabbed her UV gear out of the sanitation machine and pulled it on.

Veridian was just coming out of the crew’s quarters when he spotted her.

“Kayla? You okay?”

She put one hand against the wall to steady herself and managed to nod. “Yeah. I… I can’t talk about it right now, V.”

Concern etched on his face, he bent down to look at her closely. “You’re acting strange. What’s wrong?”

Kayla shook her head, trying to blink back the tears that threatened. Even though she knew Veridian would understand, she couldn’t revisit her emotional torment twice in once night. She never should have told Carl what happened with Pretz.

“I talked when I shouldn’t have,” she said angrily as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I hate crying. I need to go clear my head.” Pushing away from the wall, she took off down the hallway, intent on escaping.

“What did you do to her?” Veridian stormed into Carl’s office, looking furious. “I just saw Kayla, and she was crying. Kayla doesn’t cry! She gets pissed off, yells, hits, and throws things. But she doesn’t cry.”

Carl stared at him for a moment in confusion. As his words registered, Carl darted to his private quarters and swore at the sight of the empty bed. “Damn, she woke up. I thought she would have slept longer.”

Cruncher frowned, eyeing the bottle and empty glasses on the desk. “How much did you give her to drink?”

Carl rubbed his forehead. “More than I should have. She’s such a little thing. She seemed pretty smashed and probably still is. I should go talk to her.”

Veridian looked back and forth between them. “What are you talking about?”

“She was drinking scotch,” Cruncher explained. “That stuff has a pretty high alcohol content, lowers your inhibitions, and gives you a hell of a buzz.”

Veridian’s expression let Carl know exactly how stupid he thought that idea was. “Why would you give that to her, of all people? Why not just let Ramiro have his way with her? Lowering Kayla’s inhibitions is like throwing her off a cliff. She’s reckless enough as it is.”

Carl raised an eyebrow, unaccustomed to being reprimanded by a ruin rat. Apparently, Kayla and Veridian had more in common than he thought. Nevertheless, he couldn’t exactly dispute Veridian’s assessment. He’d been hoping she would have slept it off.

Before Carl could formulate a reply, Veridian’s gaze landed on his desk. His eyes widened when he recognized the image on the tablet. “Oh shit. She told you about Pretz?”

“You knew him well?”

Veridian nodded, still looking at the picture. “Ramiro sent him to our camp one day to drop off some equipment, and he met Kayla. He fell for her pretty hard. He used to go with her into the ruins whenever he had a day off. He told her if she didn’t join Ramiro’s crew, he was leaving after his contract was up to be with her. He was crazy about her.”

Veridian sighed. “She was really messed up after Pretz died. She lost it. That’s why she went to Ramiro’s camp the next day. I think part of her wanted to get caught. She blames herself for what happened.”

“That’s ridiculous. It wasn’t her fault.”

“Yeah, you try explaining that to her and let me know how it goes,” Veridian retorted, crossing his arms over his chest. “I can’t even bring up his name without her jumping down my throat.”

He had a point. Kayla hid her emotions pretty well, but it was obvious she was still grieving. Feeling responsible for her current emotional state, Carl said, “I’ll go talk to her.”

He took a step toward the door and nearly ran into Xantham.

“Uh, Boss?” A look of confusion came over Xantham’s face as his gaze darted between the three men.

Carl tried to brush past him. “Not now, Xantham. I need to find Kayla.”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m here. She took off on her speeder a few minutes ago.”

He shut his eyes, hoping he’d misheard. “What?”

“Yeah, I can’t get over how fast that girl drives. If the size of her bike’s dust cloud was any indication, she’s pretty pissed.”

“Shit.”

“It gets worse,” Xantham told him hurriedly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I don’t know how it happened, but Ramiro got into our system through a backdoor. I also picked up another bike on the radar that’s not one of ours. It’s trailing her.”

Carl felt the blood rush from his face. He turned to Veridian. “Do you know where she would have gone?”

“To the ruins. That’s where she always goes.”

“But it’s in the middle of the night and she’s alone,” Carl protested in disbelief.

Veridian gave out an impatient snort. “You don’t have a clue about her, do you? Day, night, alone, whatever. None of it matters to her. She says the only time she feels alive is when she’s in the ruins.”

“We need to find her before Ramiro does or she hurts herself. Do you have any idea which sector she would have gone to?”

Veridian shook his head. “There’s no way to know. She could be anywhere. She could have even gone back to another district if she was upset enough.”

“She headed east,” Xantham volunteered.

“Then we’ll head in that direction,” Carl replied and headed toward the camp entrance. “Xantham, track her bike and send me the coordinates the minute she stops. Cruncher, come with me.”

“I’m going with you too,” Veridian insisted.

Carl spared him a nod and continued issuing orders. “Xantham, do whatever you need to do. I don’t care what rules you break, but get into Ramiro’s channels. Find out what’s going on and if he’s the one trailing her.”

“On it, Boss.”

The three men headed east for what seemed an eternity. Exasperated, Carl barked into his headset, “Dammit, Xantham, give me something.”

“I’m working on it, Boss. But someone’s scrambling the system so I can’t lock on a trace. Give me a second. I’m trying to shut down the backdoor and flush our system.”

“Just do it.”

A few minutes later, Xantham’s voice came back over the headset. “I’ve got her. I’m sending the coordinates to you now. It looks like she stopped, but I don’t know how long she’s been there.”

Carl glanced at the coordinates that flashed on his onboard screen. “Is that Sector Twelve?”

“Affirmative.”

Carl swore angrily and turned his bike north toward Sector Twelve. They were at least twenty minutes away, which was twenty more than they could afford. He pushed the speeder into a higher gear, determined to cut down the time as much as possible. When they arrived, two bikes were parked above the entrance to the ruins. He recognized Kayla’s bike as one of them.

“Shit,” Carl muttered and yanked off his helmet. “They’re both down in the ruins. Let’s get the cables set up. Cruncher, I’m going to need you to go down with me. Veridian, can you handle monitoring from here?”

Both men agreed immediately. Cruncher began setting up the equipment with Carl while Veridian crouched down near Kayla’s equipment.

“Something isn’t right,” Veridian announced. “Kayla doesn’t set up her equipment like this.”

Carl looked up to see Veridian raise the cable. Almost immediately, the cable came to the surface. “The end of the cable’s been cut. He either dropped her or didn’t want her to be able to get out.”

Carl pushed aside his growing concern. He needed to focus on facts. Crouching down, he examined the frayed end. Whoever had cut the cable wanted it to appear an accident.

“Xantham, connect me to Kayla,” Carl instructed over his headset.

“You’re patched through. Go ahead, Boss.”

“Kayla? You there?”

There was only silence on the other end. Ignoring the dread in the pit of his stomach, Carl grabbed the harness from Cruncher and strapped himself in. Cruncher did the same, and they began the long descent.

As they moved slowly downward through the levels, Carl peered around with his flashlight looking for any sign of Kayla. He finally saw her when he reached the fourth level. She was lying on the ground, not moving. The rest of the cable had fallen around her. From the amount, he estimated she’d fallen at least two or three levels.

Fear gripped him as he said over his headset, “I found her.”

He stopped the cable’s descent and climbed out of the harness. Another figure was facedown a few feet from her.

“Cruncher, check him out,” he instructed and went directly to Kayla. He dropped to his knees next to her, calling out her name. She didn’t respond.

Her helmet had been tossed aside, and her dark hair covered her face. He moved to unzip her jacket and realized her harness was missing. She couldn’t have fallen. Ramiro must have been trying to recreate Pretz’s accident.

Hoping they weren’t too late, he felt for a pulse. It was weak, but she was alive. He brushed her hair back from her face and his hand came away wet. It was covered in blood. Her lip was cut, and there was a deep gash near her temple. Dark bruises were forming around her throat where it appeared someone had choked her.

“Shit,” he said into his headset. “She’s alive but unconscious. She didn’t fall. She was practically beaten to death. Call Zane and Elyot. Tell them to get out here now. We’re going to need a lift to bring her up. I don’t want to move her more than necessary. Drop a med kit down to me, and tell Jinx to get the med room ready.”

Cruncher moved over to the large man lying near Kayla and rolled him over. Vex’s fixed gaze stared back at them. A deep cut was across his neck, and he was covered in blood. Cruncher shook his head at the brutality. “He’s dead, Boss. It looks like she hit an artery. What the hell happened down here?”

Carl didn’t bother to respond. He pulled off his jacket and shirt to rip them into makeshift bandages. Pressing firmly against Kayla’s head, he tried to slow the bleeding. Her skin felt cool and clammy, and her pulse seemed to be weakening. He cursed himself for letting this happen to her.

Cruncher grabbed the med kit the moment it was lowered. He pulled out two monitors and handed one of them to Carl. “These are the new vital sign monitors. Attach one of the monitors to the inside of her wrist and one near her heart. It’ll give us a more accurate reading.”

Following Cruncher’s instructions, Carl pressed one of the monitors on the inside of her wrist. He lifted her shirt to place the other monitor and faltered at the sight of the dark bruises around her rib area.

Cruncher shook his head, shaken by the sight. “Oh shit. What the hell did he do to her?”

Carl’s jaw clenched, but he kept his hands gentle as he pressed the other monitor to her chest just below her breast. If Vex wasn’t already dead, he’d be tempted to kill him again. When he was confident the device was in place, he nodded to Cruncher to activate the monitor inside the med kit.

“We’re picking up her vitals now, Boss, but they’re faint.”

Carl leaned over her. “Kayla, can you hear me? We’re going to bring you up soon. You’ve got a nasty bump on your head and some bruises, but you’re going to be okay.”

Saying a silent prayer, he hoped his words weren’t superfluous. The alternative was unthinkable.

He glanced up as Cruncher moved away and picked up a knife off the ground. Examining the blade, Cruncher spoke into the headset. “Veridian, does Kayla usually carry a knife?”

Veridian hesitated before answering. “Yeah. Ever since the incident with Ramiro and Pretz, she’s kept one on her. It’s embedded into her belt and isn’t noticeable unless you know it’s there.”

Carl exchanged a look with Cruncher and observed, “There’s no doubt how this would have turned out if she didn’t have that with her.”

Cruncher made a small noise of agreement and packed the knife away in the medical kit. Carl turned back to Kayla, knowing Cruncher would probably return it to her at some point. The two of them had developed a relationship of mutual respect and even affection.

Although Cruncher had been working in the trader camp for years, even before Carl had taken over the camp, the older man had grown up as a ruin rat. He didn’t speak much about his origins, but Carl had learned to value his opinions when dealing with the surface-dwellers. Cruncher had proven to be an excellent judge of character, and Carl was thankful for his guidance.

It was Cruncher who had first brought Kayla to his attention. He’d initially been skeptical when he heard about her abrasive nature, but he’d been fascinated from the moment they met. Carl was inexplicably drawn to her. His attraction went far beyond her skill as a scavenger.

She constantly challenged him, forcing him to stay one step ahead of her. Her brilliance and passion inspired him to look deeper within himself. It was so easy to get caught up in the politics of the tower and planning his future, but she reminded him of the importance of focusing on the present.

Kayla was wild and impulsive, but in the rare moments he’d been able to lower her defenses, he’d glimpsed a fragile softness within her. He wanted to draw it out and see it blossom.

His throat tightened at the thought of losing her now.

Xantham’s voice came over the headset, interrupting his thoughts. “Zane and Elyot are a few minutes out. They’ve got the lift and the extended bike to bring her back. Jinx is setting up the med room now. She wants to know if you want her to contact OmniLab to get any additional equipment.”

“Not yet. It looks like she may have some bruised or cracked ribs, but I can’t tell beyond that. The head injury worries me. She’s lost a lot of blood.”

“She’s tough. She’ll make it,” Cruncher said in a low voice.

Carl continued pressing the makeshift compress against her head, hoping Cruncher was right. Time seemed to move in slow motion while they waited. When Zane and Elyot finally dropped down, Carl breathed a sigh of relief. Kayla’s pulse had grown even weaker.

Both men were equally shocked when they witnessed the violent scene, but they quickly worked together to transfer Kayla to the lift. The mood was subdued as they lifted her out of the ruins. Veridian nearly lost it when he saw Kayla’s still figure covered with blood. Cruncher put his hand on Veridian’s shoulder. “Keep it together. You won’t do her any good if you fall apart right now. We’ve got to get her back to camp.”

Veridian squared his shoulders and bent down to help reattach the lifting board to the extended bike. His hands trembled, and Carl stepped forward to take over. He motioned for Veridian to climb up next to Kayla. “She needs you.”

Veridian’s head jerked up, his expression one of surprise but quickly changing to one of gratitude. Carl offered him a reassuring nod before directing the rest of his men back to camp.

Jinx was already in the medical room when Carl entered with Kayla in his arms. The moment he laid her on the examination table, activity erupted around him. Jinx bent down and cut off her jacket while Zane grabbed the I.V. and inserted the needle into Kayla’s arm. Jinx glanced at the monitor readings with a frown. “Her blood pressure is dropping.”

Carl grabbed a pouch of synthetic blood and handed it to Zane, who immediately hooked it up to the I.V. along with the saline solution. Jinx jerked open one of the drawers and pulled out a needle. She slid the needle into the I.V. and pushed a clear liquid through the line.

“What are you giving her?” Veridian leaned forward, peering over Jinx’s shoulder.

“Just something to help boost her blood pressure,” Jinx explained without looking away from the monitor. As soon as Kayla’s blood pressure stabilized and her vital signs moved into a more acceptable range, Jinx gave her another injection. “This is a metabolic booster. It’ll speed up her healing rate.”

Carl adjusted the scanner hanging on the wall. “Everyone step back for a minute.”

Zane and Jinx moved away from Kayla while Carl activated the scanner. A thin beam of light moved over her form and then beeped loudly. Carl studied the images that flashed on the screen.

“She’s got a concussion. Her left wrist is fractured, and it looks like she has two cracked ribs. With the head wound too… This was way too close.”

Carl gripped the edge of the counter and took a deep breath. It was his fault this happened. He’d known Ramiro was unbalanced since he witnessed his reaction to her in his office. He could have pushed OmniLab harder to step in immediately. Instead, he wasted time playing games trying to get her to open up to him.

Jinx put her hand on Carl’s arm. “It could have been worse. We can fix those. She’ll be okay, Carl. You got to her in time.”

A chair squeaked across the floor. Carl turned to see Veridian sit beside the medical bed. The younger man stroked Kayla’s hair and kissed her forehead, whispering reassuring words in her ear.

Carl felt a pang of jealousy at the display of tenderness. He longed to be the one next to her, but he hadn’t earned that right. He might not be able to erase what happened, but he could make sure Ramiro never hurt anyone again.

Determination in his gaze, he declared, “It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” He pressed the button on his commlink. “Xantham, what have you learned?”

“Just a second, Boss. I’ll be right there.”

A minute later, Xantham appeared. When he saw Kayla, his eyes widened in shock. “Holy shit. What the hell did he do to her?”

“From the looks of it, he smacked her around and tried to strangle her,” Zane said in a dry voice and crossed his arms over his chest. “But it looked like Kayla was able to drop the bastard before he could finish the job.”

“Oh man.”

Carl turned to him. “What did you find out?”

Xantham tore his eyes away from Kayla. “Ramiro didn’t want to get his hands dirty, so he sent Vex. Vex had been camping right outside the range of our perimeter. They locked onto her bike signal as soon as she left. Ramiro told him to make it look like an accident.”

Carl’s eyes hardened. “Did he say anything else?”

Xantham looked uncomfortable. “Vex… uh, laughed and said the little whore was going to meet the same end as her boyfriend. Ramiro’s been freaking out for the past hour since Vex stopped transmitting.”

“Tell me you have it recorded.”

“Yeah, but Boss, I don’t think OmniLab will be real happy if they find out I hacked into Ramiro’s comms.”

“I don’t care,” Carl dismissed his concerns. Playing by the straight and narrow hadn’t prevented two people from dying and another from being seriously injured. “You acted on my orders. I’m sending the recording to OmniLab. He’s not getting away with this.”

Xantham nodded. Jinx waved her hands, motioning everyone toward the door. “Everyone out except Veridian. I need to put on the bone molds and get her cleaned up.”

“I’m staying,” Carl said firmly.

Jinx frowned. As the crew trickled out, Jinx said, “Fine. But you don’t need to watch. She deserves some privacy after what she’s been through.”

Carl obediently averted his eyes while Veridian and Jinx undressed Kayla and cleaned her wounds. After Jinx wrapped her ribs with the bone molds, Veridian pulled a blanket over Kayla. “Okay, Carl. We’re done.”

Carl turned back around. Kayla’s dark hair fell around her face and was still damp from where Jinx had washed the blood out of it. Her eyes were closed, and she looked extraordinarily pale. The bruises around her neck were darkening. Carl could see the outline of where Vex’s fingers had gripped her.

Jinx pointed to the bone mold on the counter. “Carl, would you mind putting that on her wrist?”

He nodded and gently lifted Kayla’s hand to wrap her wrist in the mold. Jinx adjusted the I.V. “It’ll take a few hours for the bone molds to finish regenerating her bones. She’ll need at least one more bag of synthetic blood, but at least her vitals are stable now. With that concussion, she’ll probably be confused when she wakes up. I don’t want to give her a painkiller until then. Right now, being unconscious is the best thing for her.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Carl offered.

“In that case, I’m going to go get rid of these clothes. We’re going to need to get her some more UV gear. These are trashed.”

“That’s fine. I’ll arrange it.” It was the least he could do. Hell, he’d buy her a new speeder if he thought it would make it up to her.

Jinx stepped out of the room, carrying the ruined clothes. Veridian held Kayla’s uninjured hand and watched her silently. Carl pulled up another chair and sat on the other side of Kayla. He put his head in his hands and sighed.

“So what happens now?”

He glanced up to see Veridian’s worried expression. “I’ll send the recording to OmniLab. They need to know what happened. They have an obligation to protect her as part of the contract.” He wished he felt as confident as he sounded. OmniLab should never have put Ramiro into a position of authority.

“She won’t get into any trouble over killing Vex, will she?”

Carl shook his head. He’d make sure of it. “No. There’s no doubt she was simply defending herself.”

“I’d love to be alone with Ramiro for five minutes right now.”

Carl nodded in agreement. “You’re not the only one.”

They both fell silent for several minutes. “She’s going to be pissed when she wakes up and sees this. She hates being sick or injured.”

Carl’s mouth twisted into a smile, remembering how she’d objected to using the medicinal cream. “I believe it.”

“Thanks for going down to get her. Most traders wouldn’t have done that.”

“I don’t think she would have been down there if it weren’t for me,” Carl admitted in frustration. “I gave her the scotch hoping to get her to open up and talk to me about Pretz. I knew there was more to the story than she originally told me. I should have waited for her to come around in her own time.”

Veridian shook his head. “I’m not sure about that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m angry this happened, but I don’t know about the rest. It’s been a year, and she hasn’t opened up about Pretz. Tonight was the first time I actually saw her cry. She’s kept all those feelings bottled up for a long time. She needed to let them out.”

“She told me she loved him.”

Veridian looked at him in surprise and then considered Kayla thoughtfully. “She never told me that. I knew she cared about him, but I didn’t realize…” His voice trailed off, indecision playing across his face. After a long moment, he said, “She can sometimes come across as being a sarcastic hard-ass, but that’s not who she is. Kayla’s got one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen. She’s either been hurt or has lost everyone she’s ever cared about. She doesn’t like to let people get too close.”

Carl raised an eyebrow, surprised at the volunteered information. From everything he’d seen, Veridian was a staunch defender of Kayla’s privacy. Wondering where this sudden loquaciousness was coming from, he observed, “She seems to be close to you.”

“I guess, but I’ve hurt her too. After my mother died, Kayla needed me and I wasn’t there for her. She turned to Pretz instead.”

“Kayla was close to her?”

Veridian rubbed Kayla’s hand and didn’t answer right away. When he did, his voice was quiet. “Yeah. Kayla grew up in our camp. There was some sort of collapse in the ruins when she was a kid. Leo and my mother heard screams and went to investigate. Several people were down there when the beams fell. One of the women in the group was badly hurt but conscious. When she saw Leo and my mother, she pushed Kayla through a small opening and begged my mother to take her. My mother pulled Kayla out right before another beam fell. Leo and my mother were lucky to make it out of there alive.”

“What the hell were they doing taking a kid into the ruins?” Carl had difficulty imagining taking a child down into the ruins. There were far too many dangers.

Veridian shrugged. “She was a little young, but it’s not that unusual. We have to learn sometime. Leo tried to find out what camp she was from. He asked some other scavengers, but no one seemed to know anything about them. He gave up and figured they were new to the area, maybe starting a new camp.”

“I wasn’t much older than Kayla when she came to live with us.” Veridian smiled at the memory. “She was headstrong, even then. She had to know how everything worked. I think she drove people crazy with her nonstop questions, but she was absolutely brilliant. If you showed her something once, she immediately caught on. She was easily out-scavenging seasoned ruin rats by the time she was twelve.”

“How long ago did she come to live with you?”

Veridian thought carefully. “I don’t know. I’m guessing it was about sixteen years ago. That would make her around twenty or twenty-one now.”

Carl sat back, somewhat surprised. He’d known she was young, but it was strange to have it confirmed. Most people with her level of skill and experience were several years older. It seemed they both had one more thing in common: responsibility had been put on both of them at a young age.

Glancing down at her, his heart thrummed in his chest. She looked so vulnerable surrounded by the medical equipment. He ached to pull her into his arms and hold her. He swallowed and looked up to see Veridian studying him with an uncanny awareness. Carl cleared his throat. “I’m surprised you’re being this open with me.”

Veridian rubbed his thumb across the top of Kayla’s hand. “Kayla’s been living in a fog since Pretz died. She’s gone through the motions but there’s been something missing. She might kick my ass for telling you everything, but I doubt it. Scotch or not, she wouldn’t have opened up to you about Pretz if she didn’t want you to know. It’s more than that though.” He looked up to meet Carl’s eyes. “She lights up when she’s around you. I’ve missed seeing that spark in her. I know it won’t last, but I’m thankful you brought it back.”

Carl opened his mouth to object, but words failed him. Veridian was right. Anything between him and Kayla could only be temporary. He had less than three years left on his contract. After that, he had to return to the towers. No matter what was growing between them, it wasn’t fair to her to begin something he couldn’t finish.

A monitor beeped, and Carl stood to replace the pouch of synthetic blood with a new one. He adjusted her I.V. line, and she moved slightly.

“I think she’s waking up. Kayla? Can you hear me?”

Her green eyes slowly opened, and Carl sighed in relief. She squinted at the bright light and tried to look around the room. Crying out in pain from the effort, she fell back again.

Veridian stood, putting his hands on her shoulders to prevent her from trying to sit up. “You need to stay still, Kayla. You were hurt. You’ve lost a lot of blood and broken a few bones. It’ll take a few more hours for them to be repaired.”

Kayla lifted her broken wrist and stared at the bone mold.

“Shit.” Dropping her wrist back down, she winced in pain. “My head is freaking killing me. What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Veridian sat back down beside her.

She frowned. “Uh, crap. I think… I was in the ruins?”

Carl picked up the painkiller and brought it toward her I.V. line. “That’s right. You should feel better pretty soon though. You need to rest right now.”

She held up her hand when she saw the needle. “Wait. Stop. Don’t give me that yet. It makes me stupid. I need to remember. Oh shit. It even hurts to breathe.”

Carl paused, the needle hovering by the I.V. line. “Kayla, it’ll stop the pain.”

“No, dammit. Hang on. Let me think a minute,” she insisted stubbornly. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her eyes flew open. “Where’s Vex?”

“He’s dead.” Veridian’s voice was matter-of-fact.

“He is?” She reached up with her uninjured hand to touch her throat, wincing in pain at the movement. “He was choking me. I grabbed my knife and tried to stop him. He… Did he throw me into the wall?”

Carl nodded. “Kayla, it’s going to be all right. I’m going to give you the painkiller now.”

When she didn’t offer any further objections, he pushed the medicine into the line and watched as she began to relax. “Oh, crap… that’s… that works. I guess I needed that.”

“You’re actually admitting I was right?”

“Maybe,” she murmured and looked up at him. With her uninjured hand, she reached out to grasp his hand. He pressed a kiss on the inside of her palm, careful not to hurt her further. She gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “Too damn pretty. Why did you have to be a trader?”

Carl chuckled. “So I could get stubborn ruin rats out of trouble. Now you need to close your eyes and get some rest.”

Once he’d made sure she was sleeping comfortably, Carl headed toward the common room. His crew was standing around talking but fell silent the moment he entered.

Jinx took a step toward him. “Is she awake?”

“She’s sleeping again, but she regained consciousness for a few minutes. I gave her the painkiller, and it knocked her out.” Carl turned to the rest of the crew. “I know you’re concerned, but she’s going to be fine. We’re going to need to take shifts around the clock for a while until this issue with Ramiro is settled. I’ll push on OmniLab to try to get them moving.”

Xantham scratched his head. “I’m going to need to take the first shift then. Zane, you mind joining me? I need to make sure our comms are locked up tight after they infiltrated them earlier.”

After Zane agreed, Cruncher spoke up. “Elyot and I will take the second shift.”

“Carl, I think I should stay with Kayla tonight,” Jinx suggested. “She seems to be out of danger, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

Carl threw her a grateful look. “Thanks, I was going to ask you to check in on her throughout the night. Veridian is going to stay with her, but I would feel more comfortable if you watched her too.”

She turned to Lisia. “Would you mind checking in on her tomorrow during the second shift? Or would you rather help out with the security systems?”

Lisia looked up from the ground when everyone’s gaze fell on her. “I-I’ll work security tomorrow,” she stammered before turning away and striding out of the room.

Elyot frowned at his sister’s behavior. “Jinx, I can check on her tomorrow instead.”

Carl held up his hand, waving off Elyot’s excuses. “That’s all right. Why don’t you guys get some rest? I need to go give Ramiro a call and tell him to get Vex’s body out of my district.”