Marked Mercenaries (Starhawke Rogue Book 2) by Audrey Sharpe

Author:Audrey Sharpe [Sharpe, Audrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ocean Dance Press
Published: 2019-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Isin sat in front of the vid recorder in his cabin, his hands curled into fists. He’d held off making this recording until after Shash’s initial report had come in. They wouldn’t have power to the main engines for eighteen hours. And interstellar engines would take another four days, minimum.

They’d be behind schedule for the rendezvous with Green, but that didn’t bother him. Green could wait for all he cared. No, he had to warn Natasha that he had a saboteur onboard.

Shash had confirmed the explosion was no accident. She was still investigating the root cause, but the pattern of destruction was too precise and effective at crippling Vengeance to have been random. She’d sealed off the engine room with a security code to keep anyone from tampering further.

He’d placed all personnel on lockdown in their quarters under the guise that the explosion had caused a potentially lethal leak that had to be isolated and repaired. In addition to Shash, only Itorye, Sweep, Jake, and Byrd were free to move about the ship. He’d stationed Byrd on the bridge to monitor for incoming vessels while Sweep worked on restoring power to weapons and shields. Jake was visiting every crewmember in their cabins, making a show of checking them for early signs of contamination to give credence to Isin’s ruse, and treating the wounds Pine and Willow had sustained during the explosion. Itorye was assisting Shash with repairs in the damaged engine room compartment, and analyzing the debris for clues to their saboteur’s identity. With mutiny on the table, the rest of the crew had become more of a threat than an asset.

His temples throbbed, probably because he’d been grinding his teeth for the past hour, waiting for Shash’s report.

Taking a deep breath, he turned on the recorder and dove in without preamble. “We have a problem.” He gave a brief outline of the situation, including their current coordinates—Green’s restrictions be damned. “Shash’ll get us moving as quickly as she can, but we’re going to be late to the rendezvous point unless you can convince Green to tell us where we’re going. I don’t know if the sabotage is connected to Green or not. It could just be a power grab.” Like the one he’d staged to overthrow Shim.

But whomever was hunting Green had to be at least as resourceful as she was, and as wealthy. He had to entertain the possibility that they’d figured out a way to contact a member of his crew, bribing them into sabotaging the ship.

If Green was on Vengeance, he could ask her, find out who was after her and what kind of force they could bring to the table. Instead, he’d need Natasha’s help. “Convince Green to give us details about this cargo—what it is, who’s after it, and anything else that would help us defend ourselves if her pursuers show up.”

Pushing the words past his lips took considerable effort. Asking for help wasn’t his style. And knowing that someone on his crew was colluding to disable the ship pushed his temper to the red line.

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