She jumped up and crossed over to him, handing him one of the sensors. He took it and flipped it over the way she instructed. Leaning over him, she rested her hand on his arm to point out some of the displayed readings. He took a deep breath, capturing her alluring scent. Having her this close was distracting, but her enthusiasm was infectious. He found himself smiling while she explained some of the settings she had configured.
“That’s great work, Kayla.” He handed back the sensor. She reached up to put it back on one of the higher shelves and Carl noticed her shirt creeping up, barely stopping at her breasts. He inhaled sharply but couldn’t bring himself to look away. Cruncher sat down and said under his breath, “Hot little number is right.”
Carl forced himself to breathe normally. “Kayla, if you’ve got a few minutes, I wanted to talk to you.”
“Sure. Let me just clean up this mess.”
She bent down to grab another piece of equipment, awarding them with another spectacular view of her curves. Carl cleared his throat and wondered if he should stop to take a cold shower himself.
“Uh, just leave it. Cruncher can take care of it.”
Cruncher gave him a pained look. “I can?”
Carl smirked at Cruncher. The older man was enjoying the show a little too much.
Kayla hesitated, looking between them. “I don’t mind.”
“That’s nice of you, but let Cruncher do it. I’m not sure his heart can take it otherwise.” Carl took her hand to lead her out of the room. “Let’s go to my office.”
Cruncher called out, “I’ll remember this, Boss. You owe me!”
Carl snorted and continued walking.
“What was that about?”
Carl looked down at her confused expression. “You have no idea the effect you have on people, do you?”
Kayla threw up her hands in exasperation. “Well, shit. I pissed him off already?”
Carl chuckled. She really was adorable. Unable to resist, he tucked her hair behind her ear. “Not even close. It’s just distracting having such a beautiful woman around.”
Kayla raised an eyebrow but before he could say anything further, Xantham walked around the corner and called out to them.
“Hey, you two! There's a solo rider on the radar. Looks like your boy, Veridian, will be here any second. At least I hope it’s him and not one of Ramiro’s punks.”
Looking pleased by the news, she turned to Carl. “It probably is. He sent me a message earlier saying he’d be here around this time. Mind if we talk a bit later?”
“Sure. It’ll wait. I’d like to say hello to Veridian too.”
Taking a detour, they reached the entrance just as Veridian stepped inside and dropped a bag down on the ground. He pulled off his helmet and ran his fingers through his disheveled light brown hair, his eyes lighting up when he saw Kayla. She let out a squeal and flung herself into his arms. He dropped his helmet in surprise to catch her. He hugged her tightly before setting her down. Kissing the top of her head, he teased, “So how much trouble did you manage to get into so far?”
Kayla laughed, relieved that he had arrived safely. “Not enough. But the day is young.”
He looked skeptical. “I’m not surprised. But I’m glad you’re safe.”
Carl waited until they were finished before stepping forward. He found their dynamic interesting. Kayla wasn't as reserved around Veridian and he obviously doted on her. Carl extended his hand in greeting. “Glad you made it, Veridian. Do you need help bringing anything in?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I’ve got a few boxes with me. They’re on my bike.” Veridian gestured to the bag on the floor. “Kayla, that’s some of your stuff. Where do you want me to put it?”
She picked up the bag and slung it over her shoulder. “I’ll take care of it while you grab the rest of the stuff.”
Xantham stepped forward to help and each of the men grabbed their jackets and helmets to bring in the rest of the supplies. Once they came back inside, Carl directed Veridian down the hall. “We set up your private area in the crew’s quarters.”
Carl looked down at his box as they entered the crew’s quarters and asked, “Is this box yours or Kayla’s?”
Veridian glanced at it. “That one belongs to Kayla.”
Hefting the box, he carried it over to Kayla’s private area where she was unpacking her bag. She looked up as he walked in and put the box on her desk.
“Thanks, Carl.”
“No problem. Let me know if you need any help.”
She opened up the box he had brought into the room. A picture rested on top. Carl recognized the image of the young man he had seen the day before.
Deciding it was a good opportunity to bring him up, he asked, “Is that Pretz?”
Kayla froze. “How do you know him?”
“I’ve heard about him,” he replied neutrally, watching her expression. “Wasn’t he part of Ramiro’s crew?”
“Yeah, he was.” Kayla clenched her eyes shut and turned away from Carl, shoving the picture in the back of her locker.
Her visceral reaction surprised him. He hesitated, debating on how far to push her. Unfortunately, if Pretz was tied to the situation with Ramiro, he needed to know. The more information he could provide to OmniLab, the more likely Ramiro would be punished.
“I heard he was great with locks,” he prompted, hoping she would open up a bit more.
Kayla whirled on him. “You seem to know an awful lot for someone who didn’t know a damn thing about the Aurelia Data Cube the other day.”
Taken aback at her sudden anger, he held up his hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he was a sensitive subject.”
Kayla slammed the locker shut and stared at the closed door for a minute. She took a deep breath before turning back around and rested the back of her head against the door. “Forget it. It’s in the past.”
Carl frowned. The look in her eyes was haunted and he felt the sudden urge to comfort her. Before he could move toward her, Xantham poked his head in. She immediately straightened and forced a smile.
“Hey, girl. You need some help?”
Kayla shook her head, glancing at Carl. “Nah, think I’ve got it covered.”
“Okay, cool. Hey Boss, I’m going to go get Veridian set up on our frequencies, unless you needed me for anything else?”
“That sounds good. Thanks, Xantham.”
Xantham winked at Kayla before heading to the communications room. Carl studied Kayla thoughtfully. As Cruncher predicted, she wasn’t going to be forthcoming with information and he didn’t want to push her away. Deciding it was better to retreat while they were still on a positive note, he said, “I’ll let you finish unpacking then.”
He turned and paused when he saw Arlisia in the doorway watching them. He opened his mouth to call out to her, but she turned on her heels and stormed off. His lips pressed together in a slight grimace.
Kayla touched Carl's arm to get his attention. “So, what’s the deal with Arlisia? Every time I see her, she looks like she wants to throw a screwdriver at my face.”
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Arlisia's childish behavior needed to stop. He'd been hoping her attitude would have improved by now but it seemed to have gotten worse over the past few days.
“It’s not you. It’s me. I, ah, got involved with her a few months back. It was a mistake and I ended it almost immediately after it began. She didn’t take it well.”
Kayla's eyes widened and she looked down the hallway where the girl disappeared. “She still has a thing for you?”
“It looks that way. I’m hoping she’ll get over it soon.”
“Hmm…” Kayla crossed her arms and studied him. “I guess I can’t blame her. You’re kinda’ nice to look at.”
Carl chuckled, returning her assessment with a long look of his own. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I could definitely say the same.”
He brushed her hair behind her ear and trailed his fingers down her
cheek. When he rubbed his thumb over her lower lip, her cheeks flushed and her mouth parted slightly. Although he wanted nothing more than to pursue her, he recognized the need to give her some time to adapt to her new surroundings. Summoning his willpower, he took a step back, giving her a long perusal.
“I need to go take care of a few things. If you need anything, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll see you a bit later.”
* * * *
Kayla watched him walk away, trying to ignore the familiar flutter in her stomach she seemed to get every time he was around. Leaning against the wall for support, she mentally kicked herself. Damn, damn, damn. Get it together, Kayla. He’s a trader.
Forcing herself to turn away from his retreating figure, she looked at the packed box with disinterest. The thought of unpacking wasn’t appealing. Instead, she headed over to Veridian’s private area.
Shoving a box aside, she sprawled out on his bed.
Veridian cocked his head at her and then gave it a slow shake. “I haven’t been here for an hour and you’re already taking over my area.”
“Oh, shush. If you really minded, you’d kick me out.”
He chuckled but didn't argue with her. Taking that as a victory, she fluffed up his pillows behind her. “So, what did Leo say? Was he pissed?”
He shrugged, but Kayla noticed his shoulders tense. “It’s probably for the best you didn’t come back last night. I got stuck listening to a Leo rant that should have been directed at you. He’s worried about Ramiro though. To be honest, I think he’s going to miss you.”
Kayla frowned. She'd known Leo was going to be upset and she felt guilty for letting Veridian take the brunt of it. More than anything, though, she was worried about how the camp would fare without her. She guessed that was Leo's main concern too. She hoped Carl would keep his word and allow her to transfer some credits back to them. Until they found a replacement scavenger, it would be difficult on them. “I doubt that. He’ll just miss having someone to argue with.”
“That’s probably partly true. You know, he wants us to come back when we’re done after the year. He wanted me to tell you that.”
Kayla propped herself up on her elbows to see him better. She was normally pretty good at reading Veridian, but she couldn't tell how he felt about the turn of events. When they were younger, he had joked about joining a trader camp but he hadn't said anything about it in recent years. In fact, he'd always supported her anti-OmniLab campaign, especially after the situation with Ramiro.
“We’ll see. You know, we could always take off and start our own camp or something. We could even leave OmniLab territory. There are other places where we could start over.”
Veridian gave her a sharp look and she barely managed not to flinch. “You better be considering options for a year from now and not thinking what I think you’re thinking. We’re not breaking the contract. We'd be blacklisted by every single OmniLab trader. There’s no going back from that, Kayla.”
Kayla groaned and fell back on the bed in frustration. So much for her fantasy. Staring up at the ceiling, she declared, “Fine. Have it your way.”
Satisfied that she wouldn’t do something crazy right that second, Veridian turned back to the box. “Carl and his crew seem like decent people. You said yourself he wasn’t a bad guy.”
Kayla couldn't stop the silly grin from spreading across her face. “He’s too damn pretty to be a trader.”
“Kayla!” Veridian stared at her in shock.
“What?” she asked, feigning ignorance. “He’s got these amazing eyes. And his body…Oh man, I want to bite his ass.” She let out a dreamy sigh.
Veridian threw a shirt at her in disgust and she laughed. Unable to resist teasing him, she added, “Don’t get me started about the way he kisses.”
“I left you for one night!”
“Yeah, but nothing happened last night. I fell asleep.” Unfortunately.
“Then when did you…Oh…” Veridian said as a thought crossed his mind. “That’s why you didn’t kick his ass that day he paid off Leo to keep you above ground.”
“Yeah, he distracted me.” Kayla bit her lip, thinking of that day. The man wreaked havoc on her senses. “I really like him, V. There's something about him. It feels like he actually sees me. I haven't felt that way in a long time.”
Veridian's brow furrowed and he sat down next to her. His voice turned serious. “Kayla, tread carefully. There’s no future with him. At some point, he’s going to go back and live in those towers. This is temporary for him. Not only that, but he’s technically our boss now. If things go bad with him or you piss him off, we’re stuck.”
Kayla looked away, knowing he was right. Yet, she wasn't willing to dismiss her feelings based on some future possibility. It might not be the practical thing to do, but she knew better than anyone how short life could be. She might as well live her life to the fullest. There might not be a tomorrow.
With a weak smile, she asked, “When have you ever known me to do anything sensible?”
He shook his head and sighed. They both knew there was no good answer to that question.
Chapter Six
Kayla stared at the monitor in amazement. The security system in Carl’s base was more sophisticated than she first guessed. There were numerous seemingly independent layers actually overlapping each other to create a complex web.
Her fingers flew across the screen. Fascinated by the intricacies of the design, she shifted through yet another layer and admired the way it aligned with its predecessor. She pulled up another monitor to line up the two layers side by side. There were definitely some security holes, but she could fix them.
She marked off the vulnerable areas and shifted the screen to pull up the next layer. Once she had them mapped out, she would work on reinforcing those areas. But she wanted to see what she was up against first.
Cruncher leaned over and asked, “What was wrong with that last one?”
She pulled the previous layer back up and pointed to the areas she had isolated. “You’ve got some holes in your system, pal. It’s leaking like a sieve.”
“Shit, you’re right.”
“It’s not that bad. This is actually a sweet system. Who designed it?”
“OmniLab. But I made a few tweaks. Unfortunately, Ramiro’s security is similar. He’ll be familiar with the ins and outs.”
Kayla’s eyes glinted mischievously. “Oh, really?”
Cruncher nodded. “Yeah. The system was designed more to protect against ruin rats and other troublemakers. Traders don’t usually go up against traders.”
Kayla pulled out her comlink and scrolled through her files. “When I scouted Ramiro’s base a year ago, I had to analyze his system. I didn’t bother with his security system because it would have taken way too long, but I did get down and dirty with the base maintenance and monitoring systems. They weren’t well protected.”
“What are you saying?”
“You can circumvent the security by going through the maintenance and monitoring systems. Your security system isn’t linked to everything. We need to fix that.”
Kayla located the file she was looking for and uploaded it. She displayed the code on the screen. “I can make a few changes to this to link them together. I’ll essentially add another layer, rather than modifying the existing ones. I still need to plug those other holes, but this is a pretty big threat.”
“You wrote this?” Cruncher asked in disbelief as he looked through the complex code.
She looked at the screen, trying to see it from his point of view. It was decent, but nothing spectacular. “Yeah. I was pissed off that day, so it’s a little sloppy.”
Cruncher let out a low appreciative whistle. “Why do you even bother going into the pits, girl? You’re a natural tech.”
She didn't bother to hide her grimace. It might be okay for some people, but she prided herself on her ability to recover artifacts and wouldn't change that for anything. The tech stuff was more of a hobby. “No w
ay. I belong in the ruins.”
Cruncher shook his head. “Most techs I’ve seen can’t work this level of technology.”
She shrugged and finished modifying the code. She linked it to the security system and fashioned another layer of security over the existing ones.
“I’ll need to polish this up a bit later. It’ll provide some basic coverage for the time being. But I need to go stretch my legs or something. I’ve been sitting here too long.”
“Yeah, go ahead.” He waved her off with a nod. “Do you mind if I check out your code some more?”
“Not at all.” Kayla rubbed the back of her neck, trying to stretch out the kinks, and headed toward the practice room. She was hoping Corsin was around so she could work on some locks with him. Engrossed with the idea she might be able to talk him into making a small wager, she nearly bumped into Arlisia and Jinx just inside the room.
Arlisia glared at her. Jinx glanced at her friend before giving Kayla a hesitant smile. “Hey, Kayla. What’s up?”
“Sorry if I interrupted something. I was actually looking for Corsin. He wanted to work on some locks with me.”
“Carl wasn’t enough for you?” Arlisia asked coldly. “Now you’re planning on moving in on Corsin too?”
“Whoa there, kitten,” Kayla said in surprise. “You might want to sheathe those claws before you get hurt.”
Arlisia turned to Jinx. “I’ll talk to you later. I have things to do.” Without another glance at Kayla, she walked out of the room.
“Sorry about that.” Jinx apologized, shifting her weight uncomfortably. “I hope you don’t judge Arlisia too harshly over it. She’s a good person, she’s…well, she’s got it pretty bad for Carl.”
Kayla tried to keep her expression neutral. She wouldn't normally be interested in camp gossip, but given her own interest in Carl, she couldn't help herself. “Carl mentioned they had been involved.”
Jinx nodded. “Yeah, it was pretty stupid of Carl. He started trying to recruit Corsin about a year ago. Corsin was interested in joining up, but didn’t want to leave his sister behind. They went back and forth about it for awhile. Arlisia isn’t a scavenger and we weren’t looking for more techs. They eventually came to some sort of agreement and Corsin signed up.”
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