Amid the chaos and the ringing in her ears, Cassia took a moment to process what had gone wrong. In such a large ship, there was no way Fleece could have seen any of them on the ground. He had to have known they were waiting for him, which meant someone had told him the plan.
Kane tapped her shoulder and pointed at the Origin as it shrank to a pinpoint on the horizon. She couldn’t hear him, but she understood the concern on his face. Fleece was getting away. She nodded, but then a sudden realization turned her blood to ice. If someone had told Fleece the plan, then he knew where the rest of the crew were hiding. The bomb had only been part of the setup.
Fleece was going after Doran and Arabelle.
Powered by adrenaline and an army-issued jet pack, Kane rocketed two miles east of the pasture, where the Eturian squadron had docked their cruiser beneath a cloaking tarp. He loosened his grip on the throttle and scanned the ground, praying the ship’s hiding place hadn’t been leaked to the mafia. That cruiser was their only source of medical supplies, not to mention his only hope of reaching Doran in time. The jet pack was fast, but not powerful enough to propel him to the other side of the planet ahead of the Origin.
His earpiece beeped, and Renny’s faint voice followed.
“Louder,” Kane hollered while continuing to study the ground. “I can’t hear you over these thrusters.”
“I said,” the captain shouted, “Doran knows Fleece is coming. I ordered him to report back to the quarry with Solara. I’m tracking the shuttle so I can meet them in the middle.”
“What about Arabelle?” Kane asked. He’d assumed Renny’s first priority would be finding her a safer hiding place, not bringing her out into the open. “Fleece will try—”
“She’s right beside me. Fleece will never touch her.” There was a serrated edge in Renny’s voice, sharp enough to cut steel. “Not her, or anyone else in our family. Not today—not ever. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Cap’n.” Kane spotted the ship and dove toward it. “I found the cruiser. I’ll report back once I deliver the med supplies.”
He hit the ground running and wasted no time in yanking off the tarp until he found the boarding hatch. After entering the access code, he jogged up the entrance ramp and sprinted all the way through the ship to the pilothouse. There wasn’t time to shed his jet pack, so he perched on the edge of the pilot’s seat, prepared the cruiser for takeoff, and grasped the wheel.
But he’d never flown anything this large.
The ship lurched violently into the air. He overcompensated, which caused the cruiser to wobble as it gained altitude. There were too many switches and blinking lights. He scanned the control panel three times and still couldn’t figure out how to retract the landing gear, so he left it in place and continued to the pasture.
The flight wasn’t a smooth one, and neither was his landing. He touched down with a clatter that shook a few pieces of equipment loose. The cockpit alarms blared as he powered off the thrusters. Cringing, he backed out of the pilothouse. He supposed any landing he could walk away from was good enough….
Good enough for anyone but Jordan, who was waiting at the bottom of the exit ramp with his mouth hanging open. The general lifted a hand toward his ship, sputtering a series of incoherent words because he couldn’t seem to find a curse strong enough.
“My ship!” he finally yelled. “You told me you could fly her!”
“She’s here, isn’t she?”
“Not all of her—I think you dropped the transmission during that sloppy free fall you call a landing!”
Kane was almost positive the general had exaggerated, but he darted a sideways glance beneath the cruiser to be sure.
Cassia came running over from the trees, what little was left of them. Most of the trunks had been reduced to charred stumps with jagged, protruding edges where the tops had blown off. It seemed she’d formed a triage among the wounded. Soldiers were separated into three groups based on the severity of their injuries. One group worked to repair weapons while another sat nearby cradling burnt or dislocated limbs. The third lay motionless on the ground.
“Any word from Doran?” she asked.
Kane repeated everything he knew. No sooner had he finished his recap than Renny pinged both their com-links. “Something’s not right,” he said. “I’m tracking Doran, and he’s veering off course. He and Solara won’t answer their coms. I wouldn’t mind some backup. How fast is that Eturian ship you were telling me about?”
Jordan raised an index finger. “Don’t even think about it.”
Kane didn’t want the cruiser. However, the brand-new shuttle nesting alongside the ship was another story. He thumbed at the craft. “Is that a Hypersonic Deluxe?”
“Yes.” Jordan’s eyes turned to slits. “And you’re not touching that, either.”
“If I’m not mistaken,” Kane said, nodding at Cassia, “that ship, its shuttle, and everything on board are property of the Rose dynasty. Even your tighty-whities belong to the queen.”