Between one heartbeat and the next, she, Mack, Tens and Cutter were dumped unceremoniously back in Cutter’s implant. Gasping with shock, they stared at the six unfamiliar net presences, slowly revealing their real faces around them.

  Delight groaned and pushed herself to her feet, putting out a hand to haul Tens upright. To her surprise, he accepted without arguing, releasing her hand as soon as he could prop himself on the implant wall. Delight turned to the extraction team.

  “That bad, huh?” she asked, approaching the singular presence she knew to be the team lead.

  The woman gave her a crinkled smile, regarding them with eyes darkened by concern.

  “Coulda been worse,” she replied. “If you’d been twenty seconds slower, they’d have managed to cut your backtrail, and identified which ship you were coming in on. As it is, they’re busy interrogating the freighter we bounced our signal through.”

  “And after that?” Cutter sounded like she’d gone ten rounds with Tens, and that only after she’d pissed him off.

  She lay on the implant floor looking up at them and ignoring Mack’s extended hand as the Odyssey’s lead answered.

  “We’ve directed them through an orbital and three lunar settlements, and then a passenger liner that’s currently boosting for the jump point. By the time they back-track that far, it’ll be gone.”

  “And Sugarsides will be safe,” Cutter concluded, not moving from the floor. She blinked, then closed her eyes, tiredly directing her next comment at all of them. “Get out of my head.”

  Delight exchanged looks with the Odyssey team lead.

  “Tell her she’s welcome,” the lead grumbled, but she and her team vanished.

  Delight touched her brow in a silent salute directed at Mack and Tens and left, as well. It was nice to open her eyes and find herself back in her own body with Jeremy’s arms wrapped firmly around her.

  “They okay?” he asked, and Cutter answered before Delight could utter a word.

  “Yes, no fucks to your girlfriend.”

  Delight flipped her a tired finger, barely registering as Jeremy shifted against her. She did register the hiss and sudden pain as he hit her with a stim pack.

  “Thanks,” she muttered, looking up at the sudden rustle of movement and sound of running footsteps that followed.

  “Yeah, thanks a lot,” Tens grumbled as Mack shucked his safety harness and went to retrieve Cutter from the other end of the shuttle.

  The girl had made it out of her seat to the storage hatch, then spun to face them, her back flat against the bulkhead as she reached for a weapon she didn’t have.

  “Sit your ass down,” Delight told her, rubbing the injection site. “Such things aren’t for you.”

  Mack walked past, stopping in front of Cutter, and the girl flinched, looking him up and down with suspicion. Mack spread his hands. “No needles,” he assured her. “Okay?”

  Delight smothered a smirk when Cutter clearly didn’t believe him. The girl scowled, looking from one of his hands to the other, then checking him over once more. Delight watched Mack stand for another minute, before huffing out an impatient sigh.

  “How long…” she began, only to be interrupted by a voice from the cockpit.

  “Buckle up. We’re hitting atmo in two minutes.”

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  Delight saw Cutter flash Mack another quick glance, then look over at her. A moment later, the girl pushed off the wall and stalked back to her seat, Mack following carefully in her wake. The man cast Delight a wary look as he passed, and she returned a perfectly innocent one.

  She couldn’t be blamed for the girl’s reactions.

  Although I should be thanked, she decided, concealing the thought from her face.

  The shuttle came in hard and fast, the pilot swinging it out of the prescribed flight path and over the canyon.

  “It’s gonna get rough,” he advised, and the craft twisted in a sharp turn designed to bring it back to the canyon’s walls.

  Delight prayed it would be enough for the shuttle to avoid the canyon’s tricky currents, and hooked into the shuttle’s nav systems to monitor the descent. Across from her, Mack gripped Cutter’s hand, and Tens stared intently at the pair. If she didn’t’ know any better, she would have said the three of them were in conference.

  For a moment, she contemplated joining them, then decided that while they sorted themselves out, she’d be better off trying to get in touch with Penny, and not least because Jeremy and the Marines needed to know where the agent was.

  “Status?” she demanded, pinging the frequency for the girl’s implant.

  She wasn’t surprised when there was no response, but she left the connection open, relieved she’d managed at least that much.

  Now to keep it secure, she thought, sending the link to the hack team.

  “We’ve got it,” the team lead assured her. “And we’re bringing Team Two on-line.”

  “Team Two?” Delight wanted to know.

  “It’s getting complex,” was all the team lead would say. “You focus on getting Penny. We’ll focus on the systems. That means keeping Tens for physical overrides, but telling him to stay out of it otherwise.”

  “You what?” Tens demanded, breaking into their conversation, and Delight sensed the team lead’s annoyance.

  “I’ll explain,” the woman snapped, and got on with it before Delight had time to acknowledge she’d heard. “Tensor Tensington…”

  “That’s my name. Don’t we—” Tens began, but the team lead rolled through him.

  “This is Kendrik Oshalla. You know my name and reputation. My team is riding overwatch. We need you focused on the in-body tech measures, unless we say otherwise.”

  “But…” Tens began.

  Kendrik continued as though he hadn’t spoken.

  “Here’s the situation.”

  What followed was a rapid data dump, that left Tens silent. Kendrik gave him a few seconds before she spoke again.

  “Is that understood?” she demanded, and Tens nodded.

  “Loud and clear.”

  “Delight. Jeremy. Stand-by.”

  A second transfer followed, which left Delight’s head whirling, but she understood and adapted her plans accordingly. She knew exactly what needed to happen next. Exchanging glances with Jeremy, she caught his eye and sent him the revised plan.

  With a nod, he agreed, and relayed the orders to his squad. She noted it as one of the many transmissions her boosted senses were tracking.

  “Mack,” she said, drawing the big man’s attention. “Change of plans.”

  They were going to make a jump into the canyon, crystal cats, sliders and shard spinners notwithstanding. Only the proximity of the canyon wall gave her any hope of success…and that was also why Penny had taken the risk.

  Mack took the transmission, and nodded, passing the orders to his team. Their priority was the flyer and the child, with Cutter covering the child, while Mack and Tens made sure the flyer got out. Delight would make sure Penny made it back to the shuttle.

  “Open the hatch,” Delight ordered, as the shuttle altered course. “We’re dropping, now.”

  The pilot didn’t like it, but he didn’t argue. He brought the shuttle down, slowing it as best he could for the jump. Jeremy took the lead with half his squad, and Delight, Mack, Tens and Cutter followed, with the other half of the squad hot on their heels.

  Heat and light made the world dance around them, the shuttle’s engines kicking up dust and crystal debris as it lifted, making a hop around one crystal upthrust, and then another, as though it had multiple stops. Delight hoped it would give them enough time to reach where Penny and her charges were sheltering.

  Her implant pinged, Penny coming straight through without waiting for permission.

  “Tell me you’re almost here, Dee.”

  The girl sounded breathless.

  “We’re here.” Delight sent her the coordinates.

  “Didja bring the Marines?” was an easy question to answer.

  “Jeremy.”

  “We’re coming to meet you. Tell them not to shoot.”

  Delight relayed the message, breaking into a jog, even as Mack, Tens and Cutter broke into a sprint. Cutter ducked between two Marines, and Mack ran around the outside of another. Tens slid past two more, rolling to his feet and breaking into a hard run.

  Delight didn’t ask where they were going. She followed, noting the Marines speeding up as she did so. The trio of civilians were still accelerating, and she realized Mack and Tens were stimmed…which only meant…

  “If we get out of this, I’ll kill them myself,” Delight growled, realizing Cutter had probably been dosed—and against orders. “…If Doc doesn’t get to them first.”