Page 11 of Radiant Exception
“How would you like to proceed, Captain?” I watched him as he moved back and forth.
He narrowed his eyes at me, probably wondering if this was a ploy. He was smart enough to see right through me, so I had to make him feel like he was working for it.
“You will be standing down and letting me handle this mission on my own. You’re here as the chief engineer and nothing else.”
“I’m also your wife.” I gave him a coy smile, and maybe pushed my chest out just a bit, knowing that with our positions, he could easily see down my shirt, if he wanted to.
Vaughn took a beat to glare at me, but then continued pacing. “If you stay out of my way, I’ll give you a cut of the bounty.”
“How much?”
“Two percent.”
I scoffed.
“Three.”
“You assume I’m in it for the money.” Which meant that he clearly was.
He paused again to study me. “Then why?”
He took the bait.
This was a shitty thing to do, showing him false vulnerability and using my trauma against him, which never felt good, but he’d given me no other option.
“Meridian took everything from me. My entire family is gone because of them.”
Vaughn’s eyes softened. Only for a split second. Blink and you’d have missed it, but it had been there. The captain had a heart; no wonder his crew cared so much about him. “Elysian?” he guessed.
It was a fair assumption. So many had fallen to the hallucinogenic drug created and distributed by the Phoenix across the entire system. But it was extremely addictive. Who wouldn’t want to get lost in their own version of heaven? Except that the more you took it, the more you needed, and after a certain point, there was no coming back to reality.
“My brother,” I replied. “My twin.”
He didn’t try to hide his grimace at that.
“My parents fought against Meridian, and they were assassinated as a result.”
“Fuck.” He ran his hand over his jaw.
“You can keep the fucking bounty. All of it. Let me in.”
He resumed his pacing, but the cadence was slightly off from before. He was considering my request. “I don’t have time to babysit.”
“I’ve worked covert ops for six years and spent the last three tracking the Phoenix underground. Darren pulled me for a reason.” The next bid was a gamble, but one I felt I should take. “You need me. You’re too close to your crew. One of them isn’t with you. Do you want the rest to get hurt if you can’t see beyond your loyalties?”
He stopped again, right in front of me, looking down at me, like he was staring down the barrel of a gun. “Why’d you leave IA? They breed lifers.”
I hesitated; I hadn’t expected that. I didn’t want to answer with the truth or a lie. I didn’t want to talk about what had happened on Deimos. Ever. Instead, I chose to say nothing, snapping my mouth closed.
“You want to be partners, but trust is a two-way street.” He flicked his hand back and forth between us. “You’re trouble. You know that. I know that. And you’re asking me to get into bed with you, literally and figuratively, without knowing what your angle is.”
Fuck. He was good. Why did that make him so much hotter?
“I have nothing left to lose. I need this mission.” If he wanted honesty, there it was, plain and simple.
“Not good enough.”
“Let me be your spy. You can’t keep tabs on the entire crew by yourself. You need an outsider’s observations. I can be your boots on the ground.”
