Caught by Menace (35 page)

Was that ilegal? Had they hauled her in here because

she’d broken some rule? “My best friend Jennie had her

number puled. We made promises when we were kids

that we’d run together. We didn’t want to be separated.”

Terror didn’t say anything. He just stared at her. Was

he trying to read her face? Probably.

“Why Menace?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you choose Menace as your mark?”

“My mark?” Naya glanced at Pierce. The roughed-up

man stil stood guard at the door. His intense gaze

unsettled her. “Menace picked me.
He
Grabbed
me
.”

“After you deliberately injured Flare and used your

friend to lure Menace closer,” Terror countered.

Dread settled in the pit of her stomach. “That is not

what happened.”

“Isn’t it?” Terror tapped his finger on the table.

“Didn’t you see Menace buying flowers in the market

that day and recognize his officer’s insignia? Didn’t you

take that information back to your Splinter cel friends

and concoct this plan to infiltrate the
Valiant
?”

Panic saturated her veins. Splinter cel? Was this guy

Panic saturated her veins. Splinter cel? Was this guy

batshit crazy? “That is not— I am
not
a terrorist!”

“No?” Terror flipped open the folder and started

snatching out photographs. He smacked them down on

the table. The old memories came flooding back as her

gaze moved from one mug shot to the next. The constant

hunger and cold. The fear. The depression. The anger.

The desperation.

“Tel me the girl who ran guns for the Sixer gang out of

The City isn’t a terrorist.” He shoved a photograph of a

weapons cache across the table. She recognized the bag

and packing material cradling the weapons. She couldn’t

be sure that exact shipment had been one she’d ferried

on her back but it was possible.

“I didn’t…I was just a stupid kid. I was hungry. I

wanted a home. I needed money.”

“Spare me.” Terror picked up his tablet. “We al have

sob stories. I’m not particularly interested in yours. What

I am interested in is this.” He spun around the tablet and

showed her gruesome images of burned and mangled

bodies.

Naya recoiled. “I don’t know anything about that.”

“Don’t you?” Terror pushed the tablet in front of her

so she couldn’t look away from it. “You sent the

so she couldn’t look away from it. “You sent the

information about last night’s weapons shipment to your

Splinter cel contacts. We have the data burst record that

emanated from the
Valiant
. You just happened to be

spotted entering an engineering access point around the

same time the burst was sent. How do you explain that?”

“I can’t.”

“Your transmission worked. They attacked our ship

last night. Al of the weapons were stolen. Men were

kiled and maimed.” He sat back and gestured to Pierce.

“Men like him.”

Feeling the situation spiral out of control, Naya said,

“Look, I know I did some terrible things when I was a

young, dumb kid. No one knows that more than me. But

I am not a terrorist. I don’t know anyone involved with

the Splinter movement.”

Terror guffawed rudely. “You just can’t stop lying.”

He slammed his hands onto the table so hard the tablet

jumped. Startled, Naya inhaled a shaky breath. Was he

going to hit her next?

Shaking his head, Terror retrieved two photos from

the folder. He pushed them closer. “You’re going to sit

there and tel me you don’t know these two people?”

there and tel me you don’t know these two people?”

Surprise rippled through her. Nattie? She touched the

photo of her older brother. The years hadn’t been kind

to him. He looked so thin and drawn. The pockmarks on

his face and his brown, brittle teeth shocked her. What

kind of trouble had he gotten into now?

The other photo took her a moment to recognize. Her

mother had aged considerably in the nearly eighteen

years since she’d left. Like Nattie, her face was also

scarred, but in a different way. Someone had slit her

cheek from the corner of her mouth to her ear. It had

been sewn back together crudely and left a thick, bumpy

scar.

Her voice husky with emotion, Naya said, “This is my

brother, Nattie. That’s…that’s my mother.”

“Two known Splinter cel members,” Terror added.

Her gaze snapped to his face. “That’s not true.”

“You know it is.”

“I don’t. I haven’t seen them in years.”

Terror glanced at Pierce and chortled with

exasperation. “Again with the lies!”

Irritation laced her voice. “I’m not lying. I haven’t seen

my mother in nearly twenty years. It’s been six years for

my mother in nearly twenty years. It’s been six years for

Nattie.”

Terror’s mouth settled into a grim line. “Now I

understand how Menace was so easily fooled by you.

I’d considered that maybe he was that gulible, but no.

You’re a supremely talented actress. I almost believe that

you’re teling the truth.”

Frustrated, she shouted, “I am!”

“You expect me to sit here and accept that your

mother has been living in The City for ten years and you

never once ran into her? I’m supposed to believe that

you were running guns for her husband, Sandy Cragen,

the leader of the Sixers, but you had no contact with your

mother? Give me a fucking break, Naya!”

Head spinning, Naya tried to get a grasp on reality.

What Terror said couldn’t possibly be true. Her mother

had left with a sky trader named Jaxon and escaped to

the colonies. If she’d been in the City, Naya would have

found out about it. She sure as hel would have known if

she’d been running guns for her mother’s husband!

Someone would have told her. Danny would have told

her. He knew everything and everyone.

“You’re lying,” Naya spat back angrily. “My mother is

not in The City.”

not in The City.”

Terror waved his hands. “You know what, Naya? I’m

done.” He leaned forward with an enraged expression

twisting his features. “Tel me where the hel my gun

shipment is and maybe I’l let you walk off this ship

alive.”

Naya tried not to freak the fuck out. This man didn’t

issue empty threats. “I don’t know where your guns are,

Terror.”

He jumped out of his seat and kicked the chair behind

him. “If I have to come around this table, you are going

to regret it.”

Lip wobbling and tears threatening to spil, Naya tried

to make him understand. “I don’t know! If I knew where

the guns were, I would tel you.” She didn’t add that she

was about ten seconds away from pissing her pants with

fright.

Terror’s nostrils flared as he inhaled long, deep

breaths. Regaining some control, he said, “Then you’re

going to find out where it is.”

“And how the hel do you expect me to do that?”

Terror gestured to the pages of her rap sheet. “Your

history tels me you’l find a way.”

history tels me you’l find a way.”

Naya leaned back in her chair as the awful truth

swamped her. “You’re going to drop me on the surface.”

“See, Pierce?” He glanced at his coleague. “I told you

she wasn’t as dumb as she looks.”

She gritted her teeth at his cruel remark. The man was

clearly trying to bait her into exploding. She wasn’t about

to give him the satisfaction. “I don’t have the kind of

contacts you think I have. If I start jamming my nose

where it doesn’t belong, there’s a good chance I’m going

to have my throat slit.”

Terror straightened up and shrugged. “It’s a chance

I’m wiling to take.”

His coldness stunned her. This man was totaly devoid

of feeling. His arrogance sickened her. Had he even

considered the possibility that he was wrong and that she

was actualy innocent?

And where the hel was Menace? He’d sworn to her

that he would protect her. He’d promised to fight for her.

Yes, she’d lied to him by omission and she had to

answer for that, but to abandon her to this terrifying and

dangerous man?

“What about Menace? Is he wiling to risk my life on

your totaly wrong intel?”

your totaly wrong intel?”

Terror pinned her with his ice-cold glare. “My intel is

never wrong.”

“It’s wrong today.”

“Pierce? Show her.”

The wounded man walked to the one-way mirror and

tapped the frame twice. She was able to see through the

mirror into the adjacent and totaly empty room.

“Menace gave you up. He’s not coming to your

rescue. Once I told him what a lying, thieving, terrorist-

loving whore you are, he washed his hands of you.”

Terror planted both hands on the table and leaned

forward with his most frightening stare. “You’re al alone,

Naya.”

Unable to hold his gaze, Naya glanced away from him.

Seeing the empty room on the other side of that mirror

had shattered her last sliver of hope. When things had

gotten tough, Menace had done what everyone else

always did. He’d cut her loose.

Feeling worthless, Naya gulped down the sob trying to

escape her throat. She blinked rapidly and cleared the

stinging tears. She had to get a fucking grip. The only

way she had even the minutest chance of surviving was to

way she had even the minutest chance of surviving was to

cooperate.

Voice cracking, she asked, “What do you want me to

do?”

Terror’s face relaxed as he pocketed his victory.

“You’re going to meet with your contact and find the

location of the weapons, the Sixer gang hideout or the

headquarters of the Splinter cel. Al three would be

nice.”

“My contact?”

“Dankirk, the Red Feather fixer,” he clarified. “I know

he has his dirty little fingers on the pulse of the Calyx

underworld. You’l be given an address where you’l ask

him to meet you.”

She narrowed her gaze. “What makes you think I’m

going to draw my friend into a setup?”

“If you don’t, I’l have him picked up by one of my

strike teams. I can assure you the amenities wil be

nowhere near as comfortable as these.”

Naya didn’t doubt him for a second. “Danny’s not

stupid. He’s going to know something is wrong. He takes

his oath to the Red Feather very seriously. He’s not

going to compromise the chain for me.”

going to compromise the chain for me.”

“Then you had better turn on the charm and convince

him,” Terror warned. “Or else it won’t be just your ass

on the line.”

Who else could he possibly rope into this?

“I know al about Halie’s involvement with the Red

Feather. Forgery. Smuggling. Maybe I’l haul her skinny

little ass in here next. Wouldn’t that be humiliating for

Vicious? He’d find out that the wife he worships has ties

to known terrorists. I can’t imagine how quickly the

government would jump in and sever their mate bond.

With that useless, barren womb of hers, she’s easily

disposable.”

Awash in horror, Naya could only stare at Terror.

Halie considered this man her friend and he spoke about

her in that awful way?

“Let’s not forget about Menace. He’l be stripped of

his rank by the morning. Over two decades of honorable

service gone like that!” He snapped his fingers. “He

alowed a terrorist to infiltrate the armory and steal

classified information. He’s responsible for the deaths of

eleven men. It’s the firing squad for him if I don’t put in a

good word. Even if I do, the Kovark—”

“Stop,” she interrupted weakly. “Just stop. I’l do it.”

“Stop,” she interrupted weakly. “Just stop. I’l do it.”

Terror’s mind was made up. The deck was stacked

against her and she had no access to a lawyer or any

kind of justice here. Her impending death had become a

cold, hard fact. She refused to let anyone else be hurt

because of the stupid things she’d done as a teenager.

“Pierce, take her to the segregation unit.” Terror

considered her for a moment. “Let her have a meal and

unrestricted fluid access. We don’t want her fainting on

us before she finishes her mission.”

“Oh, you’re so kind.” Naya roled her eyes as Pierce

hauled her out of the chair and guided her to the door.

She’d expected rough handling but he was surprisingly

easy on her. Apparently not al of the Shadow Force

operatives were dicks.

Within a few minutes, she was locked in a tiny cel and