“You told them about the missiles?”

“They already know,” Rork said. “And if they don’t, they soon will. You don’t think Alliance operatives will recognize a surface to orbit missile guidance system when they see it?”

Blake thought about it for a moment. Rork was right. “When do you want us to leave?”

“As soon as you can get your men ready.”

Blake nodded. I can do that right now. He turned to leave, but Rork stepped forward.

“I want you to bring back Susa Jaiban.”

Blake froze. “You mean you want me to kidnap the girl?”

“Yes.”

Fighting in self-defense or protecting your turf was one thing. Kidnapping innocent girls was a completely different thing. Dorian Jaiban might be a rival to Rork, but to kidnap his daughter was a low blow. She never did anything to provoke the warlord.

She’s completely innocent!

“When Acheron is free from Alliance control, what do you think is going to happen?”

Blake had no answer.

“There’s going to be a power struggle for control of the planet,” Rork continued. “The Dust Dogs are the second most powerful clan on the planet—almost as strong as us!”

“I can’t,” Blake said. “I—I can’t.” Blake shook his head, backing away from Rork.

Rork slammed his hand on the table, then jabbed his index finger against Blake’s chest. “You’re just going to quit, let everything we’ve worked for blow away in the wind?”

“It’s wrong,” Blake said. He may have been a selfish bastard once, but he was changing. He was better now. Wasn’t he?

“I have a vision,” Rork said. “A vision of Acheron, free of the Alliance, where men can be free! One day this planet will have forests and rivers. It will be a paradise. But not if we give up!”

You’ve already kidnapped the diplomat, Blake told himself. He was still a selfish bastard, even if the diplomat didn’t know she was a prisoner.

Rork stalked over to his plants, picked up the mist bottle he’d set down when Blake brought the drops in to meet him. He started misting his plants, but his movements were jerky. Rork was always calm around his plants. He was usually calm in any situation.

Freedom...

That’s what Acheron would symbolize one day. Was freedom worth kidnapping for? Was it worth killing for? Since landing on Acheron, Blake hadn’t killed a single person in five years. But if this plan for succession went forward—

It’s already going forward.

People were going to die. Maybe not by Blake’s hand directly. But indirectly, he would be complicit. He’s already committed crimes—gotten people killed through his cowardice. It could be different. Why not now for a good cause this time? The cause itself wasn’t selfish.

It still felt wrong. This wasn’t Blake.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

Rork turned around. Stared at Blake for a moment. “Thank you, Mr. Halls.”

Rork didn’t need Blake for anything, but it seemed he wanted a partner in all this. That made Blake certain that Rork was sincere about his hopes for the planet.

He would help Rork. He only had to lie, kidnap, and help kill to do it...

Blake nodded to the warlord and left the room, making for the two Alliance operatives and the pilot, his face hot and a knot in his stomach.

* * *

They were kneeling over a makeshift schematic of the Dust Dogs base in Purgatory Valley that Blake had constructed out of machine parts and assembled onto the concrete floor. It wasn’t the most high tech schematic, but it would get the job done.

“You two,” Blake said, indicating Dan and Shane, “will sneak into their quarry. Once there you can make your way into the city and decide how you will get into their base.”

Purgatory Valley was another oasis city, but according to Blake’s map, most of the residential areas were located outside of the valley and surrounded by the Dust Dogs main compound which was located along the river at the center of the valley.

“You don’t have a plan for that?” Dan asked.

Blake smiled. “I’m not a Dust Dogs member, and I’ve never been inside of their base except for in their leader’s palace.”

Shane frowned. “This sounds like a suicide run to me.”

“If you two are half as good as I suspect you are,” Blake said, “you shouldn’t have a problem. The Dust Dogs are just a bunch of gang members—they don’t know anything about proper security.”

“Like you Iron Kin of War boys,” Shane said with a disdainful smirk on his face.

Blake didn’t seem to care about the slight.

How would the warlord have reacted? Dan wondered, feeling inside his pocket for the audio device. He clicked it open and it stuck to his thumb and forefinger.

“Me and my men will arrive after you get into the quarry under the pretense of negotiating a new trade deal.”

“How does that help us?” Dan asked.

“We’ll provide your ride out,” Blake said.

“Do I really have to come for this?” Marcus asked.

Blake nodded. “Rork wants you there.”

Marcus let out a breath, nodding quietly.

Shane crossed his arms, looking pissed. “So we get to go on a suicide mission while you sit back in your ATVs...”

Quietly, Dan dropped the recording device near Shane’s leg. His stomach clenched. The device caught the lower hem of his pant leg just above his right boot. Unlike the sub-dermal communications tech inside their necks, these little recorders would still work inside of Rork’s base. Dan and Shane had tried to contact Colonel Taver after they were alone, but they couldn’t get a message out. Seeing as there were missiles inside of this complex, that meant there had to be some kind of shielding that was preventing them from getting a message out.

Blake crossed his arms. “That’s right. And if you don’t like it, you can go to hell, because you’ve got nowhere else to go if you don’t wind up in the clan. This is it—this is your chance.”

Shane snarled, his chest expanding as he moved for Blake.

“Hey!” Dan said, pointing at Shane. Keep it cool.

Blake looked tense, like he was about to bolt or yell for the guards.

Marcus’ eyes were wide, he stepped back a pace.

Blake might be a member of this Iron Kin of War clan, but he was no fighter. Surprisingly he didn’t go for the pistol on his hip.

Shane made a face at Dan and started for the edge of the room where he sat down on a crate.

“We met in prison,” Dan told Blake. “He can be pretty aggressive, but he’s good in a bind—you just have to know how to deal with him.”

Blake gave him a dubious look. Then he said, “We’ll be leaving soon. I’ll go get the men.”

Dan nodded, turning to the schematic of machine parts. He bent down to inspect the plan one last time before they actually attempted to pull it off.

Marcus went and sat down as well, though he kept some distance between himself and Shane.

Blake Halls was right about one thing, none of the people on Acheron—except maybe the odd ex-soldier—knew anything about real combat or how to effectively keep security. Chances were, this mission for Rork wouldn’t be that hard.

Dan glanced at the door where Blake had made his exit. Could they sneak out of here and find Ambassador Silverman and Diplomat Kolivar?

It was probably safer to just pull this thing off and get Rork his guidance system so that they could have free reign of the base as clan members. That guidance system worried Dan, though. If they got that installed, and the dusty old surface to orbit network down here still worked, they’d have a hell of a time getting the VIPs out of here without taking some serious casualties.

Rork’s army seemed to be about twenty thousand strong. It would be a real military operation if they couldn’t get in, extract the VIPs and get out.

“Hey, asshole...”

Dan jerked at the sound of Shane’s voice directly behind him, then he sighed inwardly as he stood up and turned around.

The machine parts making up the map dug into Dan’s back when he landed. Shane held something between his forefinger and thumb. Shit. It was the recording tech.

“What are you doing?” Marcus demanded.

Shane ignored the pilot. “I found this little piece of shit on my leg!” He looked at the tech between his fingers. “Looks like one of Yeun’s little toys! I’ll tell you where you can stick this, you fuck—right up her tight little”—he tried to fling it aside but it stuck to his fingers. He shook his hand but it didn’t come off. “Fuck!”

Jaw set and eyes narrowed, Dan said, “Get off me, Shane.”

“Dan, you piece of—“

The door squeaked open and Shane looked up. Dan turned around, still on his back with Shane’s fist around his jumpsuit collar to find Blake and Razen entering the room.

That didn’t take long...

Blake glanced at Dan on the floor, his machine parts scattered. Then, gravely, he said, “It’s time to go.” He turned around and left the room, obviously expecting Dan and Shane to follow him to the ATVs.

Dan moved to get up when Shane jabbed a finger at him. “This isn’t over, you piece of shit!”

After Shane followed after Blake, Marcus helped Dan up. “You okay?”

Dan rubbed his lower back where one of the parts scraped his skin. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks. Let’s get out of here.”

Marcus nodded. “You two don’t work well together.”

Dan almost chuckled. “Figured that out, huh?”

“Seriously, what was that about?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you later. Come on.”