Page 88 of Smuggler's Beauty

“Shields at seventy-five percent,” L.I.N.D.A. informed them. “Automated jump logistics paused.”

“Unbe-fucking-lievable,” Veselko muttered under his breath. His fingers flew over the controls as he sent a return volley to the pursuit ship.

“They took the contract. They’re gonna follow through,” Nannette said, her tone grim. She was still staring at Mathias. He was sitting in one of the passenger chairs, staring into space. His head was tilted to the side.

Evelyn decided not to panic until the precognitive did. Surely if he saw their impending doom, he’d make a face that betrayed something other than concentration. She realized she was still holding Veronique’s hand and squeezed it.

A hail alert popped up on the view screen. Aiden denied it. “Fuck off,” he muttered, swiping furiously at the controls.

Elenor, Nannette, and Tariel departed for the armory to gather weapons lest theDawnbe boarded. They wantedeveryone armed to the teeth in case the Twins tried to breach the ship.

Evelyn privately thought they were overreacting a little. She knew the power of a reputation, knew how it could do ninety percent of the heavy lifting in a situation if one knew how to wield it properly.

They’re two people. How bad could they possibly be?

But she also knew Nannette felt better armed for bear, and if hauling around blasters and knives made her feel better, she wasn’t going to stop her.

The ship rocked from another hit, the Twins’ smaller vessel gaining on theDawnquickly as they shook off course from the impact.

“Shields down to sixty-five percent,” L.I.N.D.A. informed them.

Cairn let out an impressive stream of curses as he turned from his calculations. Veronique’s grip on Evelyn’s hand tightened. Veselko lined up another shot and fired. The shot hit, but did nothing to deter the smaller vessel. Their ship was closing in quickly, closer every time Evelyn blinked.

She felt so fucking helpless. She wanted to do something. She looked across the bridge at Mathias. His eyes were refocused. He had crossed his legs and folded his hands neatly in his lap. He looked like he was waiting for a bus, patient expectation the only expression on his face. The others had returned with the weapons and had begun passing them out. Evelyn tucked a blaster into the band of her pants.

Another hail came across the screen. This time, Aiden answered it. A beautiful woman’s face filled the screen, her glowing brown skin illuminated by the flashing lights of her own ship’s warning system.

“Fuck off, Pearl,” Aiden said. “I’m a little busy.”

“Just hand over the princess, Aiden. Hand her over, and you and yours can be on your way. Lillian’s spent so much time retrofitting that ship, I don’t want to see all her hard work go to waste.”

“Fuck off, Pearl,” chorused the crew of theDawn.

“Evelynismine. So you and Ivan can have fun chasing us around the galaxy until the heat death of the universe. I will not be handing her over anytime soon,” Aiden said. His arms were crossed, eyes blazing. Pearl arched an eyebrow. Evelyn was very glad she wasn’t in the camera view; her cheeks were on fire.

One thing about this man, he doesn’t know the meaning of hard to get.

“See ya,” Aiden said, and cut the connection.

Veselko shot at the ship again.

“Cairn, how are we looking?” Aiden asked.

“Better than before L.I.N.D.A. paused the jump proceedings. I bypassed, got the mechanism charged. It’s ready to go, but if the shields fail before I can finish the maths, they’ll be able to board. I’d like a little more distance and a clear path,” he said, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck. “We could jump, but it would be risky.”

Aiden nodded. “Their ship’s so small, it’s easy to keep getting in the way.”

Evelyn felt Mathias’s eyes on her, burning into the back of her head.

For fuck’s sake just tell me, seer.

“Brace for impact,” L.I.N.D.A. said. “Laser-cannon fire incoming.”

Veronique’s grip was so tight, she was crushing the bones of Evelyn’s hand. Heart racing, Evelyn gripped the chair in front of her and widened her stance. She was still thrown off her feet when the blow hit. Veronique’s elbow wound up in Evelyn’s ribs,her knee had met the other woman’s chin. The lights in the room turned red in warning as the ship’s shields fell.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Cairn chorused as he left his calculations to regain control of the helm. The bottom of Evelyn’s stomach dropped out.

All my fault.