Release Date: August 26th 2014
Synopsis
It’s Renna’s biggest job yet – convincing MYTH leadership that she’s put away her lock picks and is ready to save the galaxy, despite the dangerous implant in her brain. But with the Athena on the run, she’s working solo and facing her most ruthless enemy, the traitor Pallas, who’ll go to any lengths to destroy the MYTH organization. Including framing Renna for a devastating assault on MYTH HQ that leaves their defenses crippled and hundreds dead.
Now that MYTH believes she’s a dangerous double-agent, Renna escapes their firing squad before they put more holes in her than a pair of fishnet stockings. But the ticking time-bomb in her head is the one thing Pallas needs to complete his master plan and he’s not about to let her get away. Even worse, he’s discovered the only thing that will bring Renna to her knees – threatening Captain Nick Finn.
Out of time and options, Renna’s got one shot to take down the traitor before he annihilates everything she loves, even though winning this battle may cost her everything.
CHAPTER ONE
For someone who
was supposed to be the best thief in the galaxy, Renna had been spending
entirely too much time locked up lately.
Not that a
high-security hospital room in a secret MYTH base was much of a prison for her,
but the IV line snaking from her arm might as well have been a pair of Saltani
iron handcuffs. She swung her feet over the edge of the lumpy bed and watched
the holoscreen on the far wall. Stats scrolled past, red text on the black
background. Her vitals were stable; blood pressure was fine. Looking at her
chart, she was the picture of health.
Except for the
cybernetic implant taking over her mind.
Renna rubbed the
back of her neck where the original incision site had started to throb. It had
been doing that a lot lately, thanks to Navang’s depraved experiments and the
drugs he’d injected her with. Drugs he’d used to create a whole army of
human-robot hybrids.
Thana Samil, the
MYTH doctor in charge of her case, said it was nothing to worry about, but
Renna knew better. In the five days she’d been locked up here in the MYTH
facility, the pain in her head had only gotten worse.
And then there
were the weird side effects. She hadn’t stepped foot outside her room, but she
knew a bank of super-servers sat in the northeast corner of the facility, as if
she’d drawn the blueprints herself. Communications relays resided on each
corner of the roof. She’d even felt the throb of the automated defense cannons
guarding the facility.
If the doctor and
her team didn’t figure out how to slow down the integration between the implant
and her nervous system, Renna would be a walking machine before she had the
chance to stop the person behind all this.
Pallas.
If Renna’s hunch
was right, the traitor was close enough to touch. Maybe even inside this
facility. But she’d never find him if she was trapped here for the rest of her
short life. She slid off the bed to pace the stark room, careful not to disturb
the needles in her arm. Six steps to the door. Turn around. Six steps back to
the bed.
She’d done this
to herself. She’d volunteered to be locked away and dissected, just to keep
Myka Aldani safe. To keep Finn safe.
Her pacing slowed
as a pang of longing shot through her. Captain Nick Finn. Former gang member
turned MYTH soldier and her first childhood crush. Now, she suspected that she’d
fallen in love with him, which worried her. Renna had spent most of her life
making sure that didn’t happen. Yet somehow his bright blue eyes, square
jaw, and straight-laced moral code had slipped through her defenses.
And oh, the way
his fingers had tantalizingly stroked her most sensitive places…
Renna felt
herself go warm as she remembered the last time she’d been with him. She’d
escaped from Navang, but not before he’d started the process of taking over her
implant. Finn had spent the night in her room, waiting for her to regain
consciousness, and she’d practically begged him to make love to her. She could
still feel the heat of his skin. She inhaled, half-expecting to smell his scent—sandalwood,
gun grease, and something that was inexplicably him.
She needed to
know what was going on between them, and if that meant more bunk-side
exploration, she’d totally take one for the team. But until she knew how to
stop Pallas and put an end to these experiments, she wasn’t going anywhere,
despite the urge she had to run back to Finn. She’d stay in this facility and
let them poke and prod her, just to protect him and Myka. Even if it made her
crazy.
The lock on her
door beeped, and high-heeled shoes clacked across the threshold. Speak of the
devil.
Renna turned as
Dr. Samil entered the room. The young doctor wore a pleasant smile despite the
slightly frazzled appearance of her long blonde hair escaping the messy bun she
always wore. Renna leaned back against the edge of her bed. “Do you always have
to look so happy at the prospect of stabbing me with those instruments of
torture?”
Dr. Samil’s blue
eyes sparkled. “For someone who’s done her share of killing, I can’t believe
you have a needle phobia.”
“We all have our
weaknesses,” Renna said with a shrug. “Pointy, shiny, metal bloodsuckers just
happen to be mine.”
Samil set her
holopad down on the counter and pressed her thumb to the scanner to unlock the
drawer. She pulled out a tray of tools. “I guess it’s time for the torture to
begin.”
The doctor
brushed her bangs back off her forehead, and Renna gritted her teeth as she
slid back onto the bed, preparing to be poked.
“How’d the last
test go? Is the implant fusing normally?” Renna stared pointedly at the far
wall as Samil fumbled with the glinting needles on the tray. “Or whatever
normal is in this fucked-up situation.”
The doctor shook
her head, flicking a finger against one of the syringes before pushing the
plunger. Pink-tinged liquid squirted from the needle. “I wish I knew. I haven’t
seen anything like this before. It’s fascinating.” Her voice was
full of that breathless excitement Renna had come to hate. “Whatever Dr. Navang
did prompted your ordinarily harmless implant to start fusing directly with
your nervous system. If my hunch is right, any other cybernetic implants
installed during this time would also fuse to your body. You could even start
picking up other electronic signals.”
Renna flinched.
Not only because of the quick jab of pain as the doctor deftly slid the needle
into her arm, but because she was already picking up those electronic signals.
Things were progressing faster than the doctor knew.
“Relax. I promise
this won’t hurt.”
“That’s what
Navang said.” Renna tilted her head and fixed Samil with a frown. “And look how
that turned out.”
The doctor
finished injecting Renna with whatever drug cocktail she was trying today, then
smiled. “There. Wasn’t so bad, was it? I promise I don’t like torturing you any
more than you like being tortured. Unfortunately, I need one more sample to
check your antibody levels.”
“Of course you
do.” Renna grudgingly let the woman extract a vial of blood and then crossed
her arms as Samil slipped the vial into her pocket. “So what did you mean about
the other implants?”
Dr. Samil nodded
as she tapped some information into her tablet. “Navang wanted to create an
army of hybrids he could control, right? Well, the first step was to keep their
bodies from rejecting the modified implants he installed. But it didn’t work.
His technique destroyed some of their own tissue and risked the constant
rejection of the implants. Hence the need for a steady infusion of the
anti-rejection medications.
“The new formula
he tested on you was a different attempt at the same thing. If he could find a
way to make your body fuse with the implant, make it think it was part of
itself, eventually technology could overtake biology. Even better, when the
process was complete, depending on the type of implant, he could have different
types of soldiers. He’d be able to control them all using his neural network.
They’d be nothing but mindless robots until he gave them orders.”
Samil’s voice
rose as she spoke, her gestures growing even more animated, but a dull ache had
started in Renna’s stomach. She remembered the expressionless eyes of the
minions at Navang’s lab as she’d slaughtered them to ensure Finn and Myka’s
escape. Her heart squeezed as she recalled Viktis’s assurance that she would
make it. Her skin crawled at the realization that she was nothing more than an
experiment to the doctor, a shiny new toy to be studied until the novelty
waned.
But this was
Renna’s life. She wasn’t going to sit here helpless while other people tried to
save her. “How long do I have?” she interrupted before Samil could get even
more excited. The woman positively hummed.
Samil paused,
blinking at Renna. “Of course. Right. My assistant has had some success in
creating a new drug to slow the fusion. It’s not exact, but I’m hopeful it will
work.” Wispy, flyaway hairs floated around her face like a halo as she shook
her head. “I’m confident we’ll have a breakthrough soon. I promise we’ll figure
this out.”
“Don’t make
promises you can’t keep, Doctor. The headaches are getting worse every day.”
Renna rubbed at her sore temples, closing her eyes as a wave of pain started to
build. She shored up the walls surrounding her heart and refused to even think
about losing the connection she’d made with Finn. “On the plus side, if your
drugs don’t work and the implant takes over my brain, I hear metal body suits
are all the rage this year.”
Samil crossed her
arms and leaned back against the table, a frown marring her pretty features. “You’re
awfully calm about this whole situation.”
Renna shrugged.
She was ten years younger than the doctor, but she suddenly felt like she was a
hundred years older. “I’ve learned to deal with the unexpected in my line of
work, doc. If you can’t change something, you figure out how to work around it.
It’s the only way to survive.”
“That’s a cynical
view of life for someone who’s only twenty-three.”
“You saw my file.
I grew up in the Izan tenements on Earth, with a prostitute for a mother and a
background in stealing. I’ve worked hard to move on, but growing up like that
leaves a scar. Or two.” Renna forced herself not to touch the physical scar on
her neck, the daily reminder of that life and everything she’d worked so hard
to forget.
Thinking about
her mother’s attempt to kill her in a drug-induced rage still made Renna flush
with shame and hatred. Still made her wary of trusting anyone. Even Finn.
Samil’s
expression softened. “I know. And for someone with your past, you’ve come a
long way. You’re now part of an intergalactic organization, doing your part to
save the universe. You’ve become something bigger than just a thief. I admire
you for that.”
“If I had a
choice, I would’ve been long gone by now. I’m no hero, and I certainly am not a
team player. I don’t need to depend on a galactic organization. I just need
myself.” Renna settled back against the pillows and crossed her arms. “MYTH can
keep its good deeds. I’m just in this for the dental plan.” And just maybe to
make sure she got a shot at happily ever after.
Samil chuckled,
and Renna felt a responding smile twist her lips. Despite the needles and the
fact that the doctor viewed Renna as a science experiment, she liked the woman.
Samil was whip-smart, and if anyone could solve this puzzle, it would be her.
“What am I going
to do with you, dove?” the doctor asked with a shake of her head.
“Save me, I hope.”
But the doctor could stop using that stupid nickname any time now. Thinking of
Renna as a meek little dove was laughable.
“I’m doing my
best. I do wish Navang’s facility hadn’t been destroyed. If I had access to his
drugs and research, it would make all of this so much easier. Or even Myka
Aldani. At one time, he was the key to all of this.”
Renna’s pulse
jumped, and she dropped her gaze to the stark white tiles on the floor. This
was exactly why she’d sent Finn on the run with Myka. Destroying the facility
had been the only way to stop the human-robot hybrid army Navang and Pallas
were building, but it had also signed Renna’s death warrant and put the kid in
even more danger.
Had she made the
right choice? Could she have stopped Navang another way?
“Do you know why
Captain Finn destroyed the place?” Samil asked. “It doesn’t make sense. The
captain doesn’t disobey orders.”
“You know Finn?”
She clenched her hands in her lap at the unexpected pang of jealousy. The past
seven years had changed Finn into a different person, and those years were
wrapped in a protective cloak that seemed to surround his heart. He was
different, but that Finn from her childhood still remained. She’d thought they’d
have plenty of time to get to know him again, to figure out if there was, in
fact, a relationship developing under her nose, but life never worked out the
way she planned.
Samil nodded. “I was ship doctor for a year on the Athena. He’s a good man.
It must have been something big for him to turn his back on MYTH.” Her blue
eyes searched Renna’s. “Are you sure he didn’t tell you anything?”
A lump formed in
her throat, and she had to swallow around it before answering. “Finn and I didn’t
exactly get along when I came on board.” Sticking to half-truths was the safest
bet for now, until she figured out who she could trust.
“Right. I’d heard
he was angry that Major Dallas wanted him to work with a thief on the last
mission. You, I presume?”
“Guilty as
charged. He wasn’t likely to confide in me either way.”
“Probably not. I
know how he felt about people like you.” Samil’s eyes widened. “I mean, people
who don’t follow the law.” She shook her head with an apologetic frown. “I’m
sorry, this isn’t coming out right. I just mean Finn’s a good man. For him to
go on the run from MYTH means something is seriously wrong.”
Renna nodded. “I get it. I’m a thief. Untrustworthy. But I was hired to do a job and
that’s what I did.”
“I didn’t mean anything
by it, Renna. I’m sorry.” The doctor glanced at the door. “Now that I’ve put my
foot in it, I’m going to go make sure my assistant has your newest sample. Stay
positive, Renna, it’s going to be fine.”
“I hope you’re
right because it feels like my brain is about to ooze out my ears.”
Samil unlocked
another drawer with her thumbprint and rummaged inside. She pulled out a small,
flesh-colored disk. “Here, put this medipatch on. It should help with the pain.”
Renna slapped it
on her arm. “Thanks, doc. I’ll see you later. Hopefully much, much later.”
Samil smiled as
she left. The door swished shut behind her, and the sound of the lock
re-engaging echoed through the room.
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Jamie Grey spent most of her childhood writing stories about princesses who saved the day and pretending to be a daring explorer. It wasn’t until much later that she realized she should combine the two. Now, as a tech-obsessed gamer geek, her novels mix amazing scientific developments, future worlds, and the remarkable characters that live in them.
Jamie lives in Michigan with her boyfriend and their pets, who luckily tolerate her overspending on tea, books, and video games. You can learn more about her at www.jamiegreybooks.com, or follow her on twitter via @jamie_grey.
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