Page 31 of Stars in Umbra (The Sable Riders #8)

Her hands tightened around her arms.

‘But they found you.’

‘The kinais caught me when my helmet battery ran out of power, and their beacons and drones were able to track me. They hunted me down like an animal and tranquilized me. Tortured me. Dragged me into their hovercraft to take me back to whoever owns my leash.’

He glanced down at the floor. ‘I pulled some inner strength together and broke free mid-air. Ripped out the restraints. Used some of my otherworldly power to blow a hole into their engines, and just as their gunship exploded, I jumped, without a care if I died. Now, though I’m here, alive, and they’re still going to come after me, and the Riders. I can’t let that happen.’

‘Where are they now, do you know?’ Rina murmured.

‘I do,’ he cut in. ‘They’re on planet. Whoever ‘they’ are. Their operational base is somewhere on Dunia.’

Rina’s eyes narrowed. ‘How do we find them?’

Mo turned, lifting his hand and tapping the back of his neck again.

‘The node. It’s transmitting. Or it was. It’ll be linked to a control hub, probably traceable if we extract it intact.’

‘Dig it out?’ Her voice went flat. ‘As in, surgery?’

‘ Naam . It has to be clean, with such precision that my handlers won’t know it’s out of my brain. Which is why this is the optimal location for it.’

‘In here in secret? Inside a Dunian military barracks?’

‘ Naam ,’ Mo growled, raising his chin. ‘I can’t risk the locator sending a signal, so I can’t move, so it has to be done here. With the Rider’s best weapon.’

Her brows furrowed. ‘Weapon?’

He met her gaze with a grim kind of clarity. ‘Mirage.’

Rina stiffened. ‘You want the Riders’ AI to open your skull and pull out a buried kill switch that may or may not explode the instant it’s touched?’

Mo offered a shrug laced with gallows-like humor.

‘I told you. I’m making this up as I go.’

‘So will this node lead us to them?’

‘It should have an originating signal we can use to locate them, or rather, Mirage. She has the processing power to sweep the entire galaxy.’

‘Suppose if it turns out to be a trap?’

His mouth curved into a slow, dangerous smile. ‘Then we walk in guns blazing.’

For a moment, they stared at one another.

Commander and assassin, woman and man. Lovers and now likely partners in a perilous mission.

After a beat, Rina gave him the slightest nod.

‘I’ll call Mirage.’

‘ Sante, mi kaya .’

It was the second time that day he used his familiar endearment on her.

She liked it.

He caught a flicker of heat and warmth in her eyes before she turned toward the comms interface.

Mo’s heart thudded, relief and gratitude burning his chest. Plus a measure of hope.

Perhaps they had a chance together, given that she was making a choice to stand beside him, even after knowing his terrible secret and his horrifying command.

He didn’t deserve that kind of grace, but he’d protect it with everything he had.

RINA

Rina activated her secure comm tab, her fingers steady despite the firestorm of thoughts racing through her head.

She dialed the Riders’ encrypted line and waited as the signal bounced through a dozen proxy shields.

Finally, the screen blinked once, then lit up with a familiar face.

Mirage materialized in a shimmering high-resolution holo, wearing a sequinned silver jumpsuit that caught and fractured the light, a style straight out of a fashion editorial.

‘Colonel,’ Mirage said, arching a brow as she took in the plain gray walls behind her. ‘You appear strained, so I’m guessing this is hella urgent.’

‘It is,’ Rina replied without preamble. ‘I need you to come to Dunia as soon as possible, please. To the Thabot Barracks on New Rambasa, and as quietly as you can.’

Mirage’s smile vanished. ‘What is this about?’

Rina wavered, then sighed. ‘Mo.’

One of Mirage’s elegant brows rose. ‘I surmised as much. The news holos alerted us to the fact that he had resurfaced in Dunia; however, we didn’t have an exact location, as he had turned off his Sable node.

He’s been MIA for weeks now. Kainan was ready to send a search party.

Until we got a cryptic message that said he needed time off and would be in touch as soon as he had the chance. ’

Rina hesitated, then nodded once. ‘He’s here. With me in New Rambasa. It’s complicated.’

A brief pause. Then Mirage’s expression shifted as if recalibrating. ‘I can be with you in less than ten minutes.’

The holo screen began to flicker, but Rina blinked at her. ‘Wait, fokk , Mirage, how are you already this close?’

A mischievous grin twitched at the corner of Mirage’s lips.

‘Kainan sent me. The second, Mo’s face hit the holos eighteen hours ago, he pulled me off my Rhesian assignment, and dispatched me in our fastest Corvette to find him, on the down-low.

He sensed something was wrong in his gut.

I’ve been in the skies above New Rambasa, circling, waiting for a signal from him. ’

‘Well, now you’ve found Mo,’ Rina muttered, sparing a glance over her shoulder at the silent figure leaning against the Faraday cage wall. ‘Get here fast.’

‘Will do. Tell your MPs to open the gates and skip the ceremony.’

‘I’ll meet you myself,’ Rina said, killing the feed.

She turned to Mo, who stood eyeing the exchange with his arms folded, his silhouette cast in shadow.

He didn’t speak, but the unspoken question hovered between them.

‘You caught all that?’ she asked.

He nodded once, the gesture calm, but she didn’t miss the slight clench of his jaw.

‘I’ll fetch the Queen,’ Rina said as she headed for the door, throwing him a half-smile over her shoulder. ‘Try not to break anything while I’m gone.’

She slipped through the corridor like an apparition and bypassed the standard lifts, opting instead for the secure route leading to the eastern access platform.

Mirage arrived just as the outer doors slid open, in a glittering jumpsuit with a floor-length ebony leather coat flaring behind her, eyes gleaming with readiness.

The moment they were through security, Mirage moved to Rina’s side. ‘What the hell happened?’

Rina didn’t miss a beat. ‘I’m still trying to piece it all together. We’ll talk on the way.’

They rushed down the executive wing, boots ringing on the titanium floors.

Rina filled Mirage in between portals and turns, about Mo’s predicament - the fall, the hospital attack, the insane escape, and the strange flickers of power lighting under his skin.

By the time they reached the Data Nexus, Mirage was already pulling up diagnostic overlays on her wrist comm. She paused at the threshold and glanced at Rina.

‘Tell me you’ve got a full scan of his neural architecture.’

‘Not yet, but the gear in the room we’re in is fokkin ’ spectacular,’ Rina replied, palming open the reinforced door.

Inside, Mo stood waiting, his eyes wary but resolute.

Mirage stepped in, and the door sealed behind her with a quiet hiss.

‘Mirage,’ he rasped.

‘Molan, you worried us.’

‘Enough to fetch me at Kainan’s behest?’

‘Of course, you’re family.’

At this, Mo appeared to choke up, turning it into a clearing of his throat.

Rina’s heart went out to him as the Sable AI glimmered into the Faraday cage and strode to him to pat his muscled shoulder.

‘We’ve got your six, and Kainan is willing to listen once we have a full report to make.’

‘Good.’

‘All right, soldier,’ she said, voice crisp. ‘Let’s take a look at what’s inside that gorgeous head of yours.’

Mo didn’t flinch. He just met her gaze, then gave a short nod.

‘Just don’t delete me,’ he murmured. ‘Rummage too hard in my skull and I’ll turn into a vegetable.’

Mirage blinked, then glanced over at Rina. ‘Regardless, this is going to get messy.’

Rina exhaled. ‘Hell, it already is.’