Shades of Dark by Linnea Sinclair Page B

may never want to speak to him again. But I didn’t want him dead.
    Yet the more I thought about it, the more I realized Thad knew too much. There was no way Tage or Burke would keep him alive.
    Philip. He still might be able to do something. “Sully, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I need to talk to—”
    “I know.” He reached across the vacant chair between us and closed his hand over mine. “Until we hit Narfial, it’s just too risky.” I’ll work on it. I promise.
    I understood. The closer we got to our meeting on Narfial with a contact we knew only as Del, the tighter our security had to be. Sully’s contacts in the Takan community—many through Verno and the church—had brought Del’s name to Sully’s attention. Verno didn’t know him. Drogue knew of him but had never met him. We didn’t even know if he was human or Takan. We only knew the Takas trusted him and sources seemed to prove he was as interested in stopping Burke’s jukor labs as we were.
    That he was part of the Takan “Circle of Life Breeds Death” brigade was also possible, though we had no proof of that. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be associated with someone who viewed rape as an answer. Neither did Sully. It would be akin to working with the Farosians. So for the moment he fell into the “enemy of my enemy” category.
    But he was an enemy of my enemy with information we needed: ship’s ident on Burke’s jukor lab and crew.
    Sully brought up a hologram of Narfial Starport through the viewer in the center of the table. It was cylindrical like Marker 3 but less than half the size, with a section of gangly looking protuberances near its base to accommodate ore tankers and other large ships. As we were running under the ident of a small commercial supply ship, we’d be docking on the opposite axis and probably a few levels above. Ore tankers—often overloaded with cargo and less-than-sober crew—had an unpleasant way of hitting things on their way in and out of stations. Wise captains knew to stay clear.
    “We need to go over some scenarios,” Sully said. “We have ten, fifteen minutes yet before we hit the first data beacon.” And all hell breaks loose.
    Sully. My mental admonition was echoed by Ren’s. So he was linked to both of us at the moment.
    “I’m a realist,” Sully said out loud with a sigh of exasperation.
    The tension of not knowing when and what Tage would release was wearing on him.
    “Most likely we’ll dock on Level E, but maybe F.” Sully pointed his lightpen at the holo, illuminating the areas. “We have to assume things might go wrong. We have to assume this might even be a trap. We need to know at least three ways back to the ship.”
    “I could never believe Drogue would betray us,” Ren said.
    “Drogue’s a messenger, not the source,” Sully pointed out. “The trap could also be for Del and have nothing to do with us. Plus, if Tage puts a high enough price on my head, we could find ourselves with a whole new problem. Which is something else we need to discuss.”
    He drew in a deep breath. “If the problem is me, then I’m not coming back to this ship. Not right away,” he added when I sat up straighter, startled by his words. “Maybe not for…a while. I’ve left instructions in our cabin, Chaz. What to do, whom to trust, all my financial data. It’s there. It’s all yours.” He paused. “The crew trusts you, respects you.”
    The finality in his voice scared me, and I realized he hadn’t gone to play cards with Ren at all. He’d been planning his funeral.
    “I’m not leaving you on Narfial,” I said firmly.
    “You may not have a choice.” His tone matched mine.
    “Sully—”
    “I can handle myself. I can’t handle myself and watch after you.”
    “I didn’t rise to the rank of captain because I look good in uniform,” I shot back. “I’m capable of watching out for myself.”
    A smile twisted his lips. “You look damned good in uniform. Even better out of