Beyond Galaxy's Edge (3 page)

“Fine. Zayn’s happy being a married man.”

“And Nik?”
Justyn noted the omission. “He’s recovered from his…run-in with Darc?” Justyn had been there in the nightclub right here on the station when the rival treasure hunter had left Nik unconscious.

“He’s…okay.”

Justyn heard the hesitation but let it go. He knew he wouldn’t want to tangle with Nera Darc. The woman was deadly.

“You mentioned a job?” Dare asked.

Dathan nodded. “An artifact has
been stolen from the Galactic Institute of Historical Preservation.”

“So?” Rynan rested his steepled hands on the console.

“A thief stole the US Constitution from the New Metropolitan Museum on Davyn V during a gala dinner.”

Justyn blinked. Holy space dust. “
The
US Constitution.”

“Is there another one?” Dathan asked dryly.

“I assume there’s a finder’s fee?” Dare asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Yep,” Dathan replied. “A big one.”

“The news hasn’t been made public yet,” Eos added. “I only just found out from an old colleague at the Institute. I’m sure the GSS has been activated to search for the thief, but once the word gets out, every treasure hunter, collector and thief will be after the fifty million e-creds.”

Justyn whistled. That amount of money would tempt the scum of the galaxy.
“But the document is worth far more than that, right? They could keep the document and sell it.”

Dathan nodded. “Sure, but it would be difficult to fence something like that. Still, there’d be a few buyers willing to risk the wrath of the government, the Institute and the GSS to acquire it.”

Eos made a frustrated noise. “Enough talk about money. The Constitution is more important than that.
It is a vital piece of this galaxy’s history. One of the five documents that all our law is based on—”

“She always like this?” Justyn asked.

“Yep,” Dathan answered. When his wife jabbed her elbow in his ribs, he groaned. “I kind of like it.”

Justyn had to admit, Eos Phoenix’s face had lit up during her impassioned little speech.

She made noise in her throat. “I want that document returned
to the Institute, where it belongs.”

“We’re too far away to catch the thief.” Dathan fiddled with the ends of Eos’s hair. “We’ve heard he’s headed to Galaxy’s Edge.”

Eos leaned forward. “The finder’s fee will be yours. Please, find the Constitution.”

Justyn looked at his brothers, eyebrows raised. This wasn’t their usual gig, but he had to admit he was tempted.

Rynan shrugged and Dare
gave a slight nod.

“Okay, we’ll do it,” Justyn said.

Eos released a breath. “Thank you.”

Justyn nodded. “So, who’s this thief and where do we find him?”

“My informants tell me it’s a gridrunner by the name of Hewett Kenth.”

“Kenth?” Justyn laughed. “No way Kenth could have pulled this off. Guy’s keen, has a good ship, but he couldn’t organize his way out of an empty space dock.”

Dathan
looked thoughtful. “Someone else must be the brains behind this, but has handed it off to him.”

“Who?” Dare’s voice was crisp.

“No idea. I haven’t heard even the hint of a whisper. Only Kenth’s name came up, along with confirmation he’s been hightailing it through the quadrant on his way to the Edge.”

Justyn stood. He’d wanted a distraction and finding a priceless galactic treasure was a
pretty damned good one. “Any idea when Kenth will turn up?”

“Yep. Based on his last verified location, four hours ago, he’s about an hour away from the space station.”

Justyn locked gazes with his brothers. “Do we wait for him here or intercept?”

Rynan shook his head. “I wouldn’t risk waiting. He could hand it off before we get to him or change course to meet someone off-station.”

Justyn
agreed. “I’ll get the
Mercury
ready to head back out. I think you two should stay here in case I somehow miss Kenth.” Justyn tossed a salute at his cousin’s wife. “Dr. Rai-Phoenix, I’ll get that document for you.” He winked. “Maybe I’ll be better at this treasure hunting thing than Dathan and his brothers.”

Dathan rolled his eyes and gave Justyn the finger.

“Captain, we’ve picked up the
Trader’s Dart
on sensors.”

Nissa stood behind her chair on the bridge, gripping the back of the seat. “Let’s catch ourselves a thief, Lieutenant Allard.”

“Hang on a second—” Gavin tapped at his screen “—there appears to be another ship with the
Dart
.”

Nissa’s gut tightened. “What?”

“No, wait…it’s gone. There’s sensor interference from electromagnetic
radiation emissions from a nearby pulsar. It’s playing havoc with my readings.”

Possibly another ship? Nissa frowned, a knot forming in her stomach. Well, there wasn’t much she could do until they reached the
Trader’s Dart
.

“Hold course. And let’s squeeze a little more speed out of engineering.”

“Yes, Captain.”

They’d spent hours searching the area out of Galaxy’s Edge for Kenth’s ship.
She wasn’t going to let him or the Constitution get away.

Nissa pictured handing over the document to Admiral DeRuyter and finally getting a command back near Thusia. Her father would be thrilled. It was just the two of them and had been since her mother had died and her brother had…left.

“Kenth’s signature is on the far side of Ubinas,” Gavin added. “We’ll be in visual range momentarily.”

Ubinas was a small, uninhabitable planet covered in volcanoes and acid lakes. The only people who visited it were crazy sulfur miners looking for valuable chunks of bright-yellow sulfur.

Nissa tapped a finger against her chair.
Come on, come on
. She wanted that priceless document in her hands and then locked in the state-of-the-art safe in her cabin.

“Rounding Ubinas now,” Gavin said.

Nissa heard the excitement in the man’s voice. She knew her crew was thrilled to be involved in recovering something as important at the Constitution. They were used to less-exciting missions out here on the edge. Nissa scanned the bridge and all the familiar faces manning their stations. She’d spent three years whipping them into shape. They were a damned good crew. She felt a pang in her chest. She’d
miss them once she was gone.

Ubinas passed close on their port side—a black rock covered in spots of red and turquoise blue.

Ahead, Kenth’s
Dart
came into view. Its engines were powered down.

And docked beside it was another very familiar runnership.

Nissa cursed and didn’t care that it was against protocol. Through clenched teeth she said, “Commander Tryker, prepare the boarding team
for teletransportation. Keep it small.”

“Affirmative, Captain.”

As her security officer organized three of his best, Nissa pulled out her own laser pistol and checked it. She shoved it back into her holster and eyed Drayna. “You have command until I return.”

Her second offered her a nod. “Try to remember we arrest criminals, we don’t kill them.”

“I’ll try.” Nissa spun and stood with the
boarding team. At her nod, the blue flash of the teletrans flared in front of her.

The cockpit of the
Dart
was small, so it was a tight fit for all of them. But Nissa paid no attention to her team rematerializing at her back.

Instead, her gaze was on the tall man in front of her. She saw some look cross Justyn’s handsome face. Guilt, she decided.

She flicked a look at the smaller man sitting
at Justyn’s feet, his arms resting on his knees and his face bruised. Hewett Kenth.

Justyn stepped forward. “I can explain—”

“Where is it?” she said the words with a ruthless calm she didn’t feel.

Justyn grimaced. “Well, there’s a story—”

“No crap, Phoenix. Where is the Constitution?”

“Captain Smooth—”

Nissa strode up to him, her hand resting on her holstered pistol. “Now is not the
time to test me. Where. Is. The. Document?”

Justyn eyed her pistol, then shrugged his broad shoulders. “It isn’t here.”

Damn him.
Nissa’s jaw ached from clenching her teeth so hard. She was so angry at him and something in her chest ached. Wine, tobacco, luxury goods, she could forgive. But this…not even she couldn’t forgive him this. “Commander Tryker, arrest both these men and escort them
to the
Freedom’s
brig.”

Justyn’s silver-gray eyes flickered, but for once there was no careless grin on his face. “I can explain, Nissa.”

She turned away from him and speared her head of security with a look. “Get more people over here. Tear this ship apart. I want the Constitution found.”

Nissa strode out of the cockpit. She’d thought that finally locking Justyn Phoenix in the brig would
make her happy.

It didn’t.

***

Justyn lay on his back on the low bunk, hands clasped under his head, staring at the ceiling of his cell.

He’d spun his wheels in quite a few brigs in his time. Nissa’s really wasn’t that bad.

Still, he felt…unsettled. That look she’d given him in the cockpit of Kenth’s ship had seared through him and left him feeling shredded inside.

He heard voices
in the corridor outside and turned his head. There was a large synth-glass window and a solid metal door beside it. The GSS didn’t muck around with force fields that could fail if the power systems went down.

The door swung open and when Nissa entered, Justyn swiveled to sit up, his hands resting on either side of him on the bunk.

“You can go,” she spat.

Fuck, she was mad. Her voice was
as cold as Perman ice and her lovely body was rigid as steel.

“That’s it?” he asked.

Her yellow eyes narrowed. “This isn’t a joke, Phoenix.”

No, it wasn’t. “I take it your search didn’t uncover the Constitution? And that you learned, like I did, that someone had already relieved Kenth of the document.”

She didn’t say anything but he saw the truth of his words reflected in her face.

“He tell you who took it?” Justyn continued.

“Jonas Solomon.”

“Treasure hunter. Cheeky upstart, from what I hear.”

“That moniker suits someone else I know.”

Her dry tone and the slightest softening of her stiff shoulders told him he was forgiven. Well, not entirely, but at least a little bit. “I can help you find Solomon.”

“I don’t need your help.”

Oh, but he wanted to help her. Seeing
her look at him with disappointment and distrust had almost gutted him. He’d kept his distance from the delicious captain, but damned if he didn’t want a little taste of all that golden skin. He’d wanted her for so damn long. And he also wanted to prove to her he wasn’t just a shifty smuggler.

“Come on, Nissa. You know I have contacts on Galaxy’s Edge who wouldn’t talk to you if you paid them
a million e-creds. I can help find out where Solomon’s gone.”

She leaned in closer. “You think I don’t know what would have happened if you’d beaten Solomon to Kenth? I’d be chasing your ass around the quadrant.”

“Not true. I would have handed the Constitution over to the appropriate authorities.”

“And pocketed the finder’s fee.”

He held out his hands and shot her a smile. “I can’t live
on recycled air alone, Captain Smooth.”

She snorted, her gaze slipping down his body. “I’d say you live just fine on all your smuggling gains.”

“I’ve never been caught smuggling or formally charged.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get off my ship, Phoenix.” She turned to leave.

“Fuck.” He grabbed her arm. “Nissa, I
can
help you find Solomon.”

Nissa looked down at his hand, then back at his face.
“You watch your language on my ship.”

He winced. “Sorry. Bad habit of mine.”

“I’ll find Solomon. I already have my team working on it.”

“Before he sells the Constitution to the highest bidder?”

Her jaw clenched.

Justyn went in for the kill. “Besides, I know some people who keep close tabs on Solomon. Know how he operates, where his favorite hangouts are, who his favorite buyers are.”
Justyn grimaced. “I’m related to them, in fact.”

Nissa’s yellow eyes turned considering. “You’re talking about the
famous
Phoenix brothers.”

“Hey, me, Dare and Ry aren’t exactly unknown.”

She smiled now. “Out here on the edge, maybe. But you aren’t the galaxy-renowned, treasure-hunting Phoenix brothers. I hear Dathan Phoenix is a fine specimen to behold.”

Justyn felt the sting to his pride,
but her widening smile told him she was needling him. “He’s married,” Justyn said stiffly.

She stood there studying Justyn until he felt like a specimen in her ship’s science lab.

He smiled and bumped her with his shoulder. “Come on, Nissa. Let’s work together and get this artifact back.”

She let out a gusty sigh. “Fine. But while you’re on my ship, you follow
my
orders.” She raised a brow.
“Think you can handle that?”

He tried to hide his triumphant smile. “I think I can handle that just fine. You won’t regret this.”

She swiveled on the heels of her polished boots, then looked back over her shoulder. “I already do.”

Nissa stood in the doorway of her ops room, watching her team working around the conference table with hand-held Sync communicators and portable computer consoles. It was a familiar view. Her team worked well together, running searches, proposing scenarios and plans.

What wasn’t familiar was Justyn Phoenix’s brawny body at the table.

Gavin Allard appeared to have softened toward
the smuggler, calling out for Justyn to take a look at some info on his holo-screen. A second later, Bella Gat’nar leaned over to tell Justyn something. He nodded and smiled at the woman, who blushed all the way to the roots of her blonde hair, her tail swishing madly.

Nissa felt a flare of…something hot and spiky. Annoyance. That was all. She disliked her orderly ship being disrupted. She stalked
into the room. “Status report.”

Justyn’s head snapped up, his gaze zeroing on her. “Nothing yet.”

Nissa looked at Allard. He cleared his throat. “We’ve put out a Galactic ATL on Solomon’s ship.” He glanced at Justyn. “That’s an ‘attempt to locate’ bulletin.” He turned back to Nissa. “Phoenix here supplied all the details he had on Solomon’s ship.”