Del's Pirates [Sequel to G'baena's Pirates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Rachel Clark

weapons—and then somehow get back out before anyone noticed.
    At the very best it was a suicide mission. At the worst it would mean capture, torture, and a very, very slow death.
    “How would we get in?” Cooper asked, still running scenarios through his head—none of which would work.
    “Before Sarah sedated Yavef he kept asking about Del and the purple-haired bitch.”
    “We’re fairly certain he was referring to Tee-ani,” G’ntriel said. “It seems that the brainwashing program Keytark sent is urging Yavef not only to report our position and intentions but to also abduct Del and Tee-ani. Keytark probably wants Ben and Trey as well, but we think maybe he figured out that wherever Tee-ani went they would follow.”
    Cooper nodded in agreement.
    “Was the communication addressed to anyone in particular?” Judge asked.
    “Not that I can tell,” Cooper said. He hadn’t opened or even tried to decompile the code behind it yet, but it didn’t seem to be addressed at all. It had actually slipped into the system in the disguise of a routine frequency scan. It was a reasonable assumption that Keytark was targeting anyone with engineering experience. Any one of them could have opened it. Cooper was suddenly very glad it hadn’t been him or Devlin. They’d set a trap to catch a traitor without even realizing it could have been one of them. Thank god it had worked the way they’d hoped.
    But then the meaning behind Judge’s last question finally began to sink in.
    “You want to send someone in? Have someone pretend they’re the one who opened the file?”
    “It might be our best chance to get close to Keytark.”
    “True, but what’s going to happen when he turns up without Del and Tee-ani?”
    G’ntriel grimaced as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. Hell, considering the fact that her skills seemed to be growing every damn day, she probably did.
    “You’re going to take Del and Tee-ani into that asshole’s inner sanctum?”
    “Coop,” G’ntriel said quietly as Cooper’s internal emotions swirled angrily, “Del has already volunteered to go. He knows the layout. He grew up there. He is our best chance at success.”
    Cooper wanted to rage over the fact that they’d discussed it with Del before talking to him, but he was sane enough to realize that Del had probably been dealing with Yavef in a medical sense when all of this was learned. It didn’t stop the disappointment that Del had made the decision to go on what was essentially a suicide mission without talking it over with the people he loved first.
    “I’ll go with him,” Cooper said decisively. This wasn’t up for discussion. If the man he loved was going to give his life in an effort to protect others, then Cooper was going to be right beside him.
    “Devlin has already volunteered,” Judge said evenly.
    Cooper gave him a look that should have reduced him to ashes. “Devlin is going to the planet to protect his family. End of discussion.” He gave them a moment to process what was essentially an order, and then asked, “What about Tee-ani? We can’t let both of our medical staff go on a suicide mission.”
    “We agree,” Judge said. “We feel that to turn up without Tee-ani will create suspicion, but she has worn so many disguises over the years that we feel confident that Keytark wouldn’t realize if we sent a different human female in her place.”
    “Who?” Cooper asked as a suspicion on where this discussion was heading snuck into his brain.
    “Cooper,” G’ntriel said, her eyes filled with sympathy, “you know she won’t let Del go anywhere without her. She’ll find a way to join you, even if we leave her off the mission.”
    Tears stung the corners of his eyes as Cooper tried really hard to drag back the emotions. Only this morning he’d been dreaming of the type of life he’d like for the three of them to build together, but now it seemed it was useless fantasy. Even if they accomplished their task and