“Children, focus,” I said.
“Kee is out at the transport with Varro,” Eli said. “Anja and I are in the war room with Chira and Havil, going over surveillance footage. Lexi had to take a walk to clear her head after a certain someone who shall not be named got under her skin while they were discussing ways into the building you apparently visited last night.”
“He didn’t get under my skin,” Lexi ground out.
I grinned to myself but didn’t comment. “Did you all eat?” After I got back a chorus of agreements, I asked, “Lexi, if I let Luna out, will you keep an eye on her?”
“Of course. I’m close to the front door if you want to let her out now.”
I called Luna to my shoulder, then stepped outside. The air was crisp, but the sunlight made it slightly warmer. I soaked up the rays for a few minutes, aware that the sun was already dipping toward the first sunset of the day.
As soon as Lexi appeared, Luna went to greet her with a happy chirrup. Lexi looked cool and untouchable in a slim pair of black slacks and a long-sleeved blouse. I wondered if she realized that the shirt was the same green as a certain Valoff’s eyes. With Lexi, it could go either way.
I waved to her and headed back inside. I stopped by the war room, but Torran wasn’t there, so I kept looking. His office door automatically opened as I approached, but the room itself was empty. Two stops later, I found him in the gym, sweaty and shirtless, as he fought an invisible foe masquerading as a punching bag.
The muscles in his arms and back rippled with every strike. Clearly the universe was trying to tempt me, not that I needed much help in that arena.
If Torran was feeling the short night, I couldn’t tell from his movements, which remained light and fast. He’d been holding back when we’d sparred. So had I, but not to the same degree. Even Eli would be hard pressed to keep up with him.
Torran bent to retrieve the towel on the ground before turning to face me. Something dark flickered through his expression as he met my eyes, but before I could guess what it meant, he asked, “Did you eat?”
“Yes,” I said, watching him closely. “Someone left a tray at my door. Who should I thank?”
He rubbed the towel over his head before answering. “I wanted to apologize for keeping you up so late. You didn’t appreciate my last gift, so I tried something new.”
“You didn’t need to apologize, but I enjoyed the food. Thank you. When you have time, I’d like a tour of the kitchen, so I don’t have to guess how things work.”
“Of course. I’m sorry I didn’t do it yesterday.”
I shrugged. “There was a lot going on. I made it work.” I kept my eyes firmly above his neck, even though they kept trying to drift down. “Did any new information come in?”
“No.”
It was the answer I’d expected, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. I sighed. “Come find me once your workout is done. I want to talk about the kidnappers themselves—what you know, what you don’t, that kind of thing.”
“I’m finished. I’ll meet you in my office after I get cleaned up.”
I would not think about him in the shower, I would not think about him in the . . . dammit. I jerked my eyes away from his chest and nodded. “Sounds good. I’m going to go check on Kee, then I’ll meet you there.”
I left the gym before I got myself in trouble.
The workshop was closer to the house than I’d thought—the trip had seemed longer in the dark. I stepped inside the warm interior. Two pairs of legs stuck out from under the stolen transport, and Nilo crouched beside them, looking under the vehicle. One pair of legs was obviously Kee’s, and the others likely belonged to Varro.
“Yes, right there,” Kee murmured, her voice coaxing. “Just like that.”
I chuckled to myself. I’d heard Kee talk to her electronics before. That, plus the fact that the two sets of legs were fairly far apart, made me pretty sure that I wasn’t interrupting anything private.
“Have you found something?” I asked.
Nilo turned to me without a hint of surprise. He’d likely known I was here since I’d stepped in the door. He was dressed from head to toe in unrelenting black, but he made it look chic. He glanced over my shoulder, but his mask didn’t reveal any of his feelings when it became clear that I was the only one here.
“This damn machine tried to lock me out,” Kee said, outrage in her voice. “Me! As if I’m going to let that happen.”
I crouched down next to Nilo and peered under the transport. Kee and Varro were on their backs, their arms in the transport’s guts. They both had on the long-sleeved shirts and sturdy pants that had become the unofficial uniform on Starlight. Varro held a light with one hand while the other braced a part that was half out of the undercarriage. Kee fiddled with something on the part, a slate on her chest.
She concentrated for a second, a scowl on her face, then with a final wiggle, she made a sound of victory. “If you won’t come to me, I’ll come to you,” she said, easing a small flat box out of the part that Varro still held.
“Tavi, grab this, would you?” She lifted her head so she could see me. “Don’t drop it.”
She handed the little box over as if it were a baby bird, and I cradled it just as gently.
Kee squirmed out from under the vehicle, then helped Varro out. “Thanks, Varro. If your boss gets mad about the transport cost, remind him that we’re on the clock.”
I scowled at her. “Kee, did you break this transport?”
She looked at me, her eyes wide and guileless. I didn’t believe it for a second. “Break is a strong word,” she started.
I waved her off. “I don’t want to know. Plausible deniability. At least tell me it was worth it.”
She shrugged. “I hope so.” She took the box back from me and popped it into the hacked-together contraption next to her. “I should be able to get the data this way. I extracted a little bit overnight before the security features booted my script, but it didn’t tell us anything new. The points I care about are the beginning and the end, and I haven’t gotten either, yet.”
She tapped on her slate for a moment, then turned it to Nilo and pointed to something on-screen. “See, this is how you know the data is there.”
“How did you know that this would work?” he asked, leaning closer.
Kee grinned at him. “I didn’t.”
Nilo laughed. “So what are you going to do now?”
The two of them broke off into a technical discussion, their heads close together, while Varro watched with cool reserve.
“Kee, do you need anything from me?” I asked.
She shook her head, already absorbed in whatever was happening on-screen.
“Keep me posted,” I said, then turned to Varro. “Make sure she eats and stays hydrated.”