3013: Renegade

by Susan Hayes

  “No, you didn’t. We figured you’d tell us when you were ready. I take it that you’re ready now?”

  She blew out a breath and opened her eyes. “I wasn’t here to steal your stuff. I was after information…and that wasn’t the first time I’ve been in this house.”

  Both men tensed, and she could almost hear the wheels turning in their heads as they looked at each other and then back down at her. “All right, vorovka. What information were you after?”

  “Inventory lists, shipping manifests, transpo routes. Your predecessor liked to take his work home with him, and the security here was lousy. It was a lot easier to break in here than try to get into his office on the base.”

  Colin’s next words were clipped and cool. “And why exactly would you need information like that? Who were you giving it to? Wraith? Did you work for him? Maybe you’re still working for him.”

  “Don’t be an ass, Colin. If I still wanted to be a thief, then I would have taken the money and walked out of here this afternoon. I’m here, aren’t I? What does that tell you?”

  “If you say another word, I’ll slug you myself, Ghost. Just shut up and let her tell us, will you?”

  “This is the part you two really aren’t going to like. I don’t work for Wraith. I am Wraith.”

  “Not possible. Wraith’s a man,” Nikolai argued, but there was a glimmer of doubt in his dark eyes.

  “Says who? There’s no visual record of me anywhere. I know, because I’m very fucking careful.”

  Colin narrowed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fuck me. You’re telling me that the thief that’s been robbing our base blind, the one we’ve been ordered to stop by any means necessary, has been right under our noses all this time?”

  She gave him a finger wave and a grin. “Hi.”

  “We’re going to be court-martialed, Griz. And you…what the fuck are we supposed to do with you, now?”

  “Court-martialed for what? Our orders said by any means necessary. Alayna, are you going to steal from us anymore?”

  “Nope. I’m retired.”

  “You better fucking well be retired,” Nikolai snarled and then looked over at Colin. “This could work. Wraith is no longer a problem for the Alliance, mission accomplished.”

  “I think there’s a flaw in your logic somewhere,” Colin grumbled.

  “Yeah? Well, logic is your specialty, not mine. You come up with a way to sell it to the brass. As the head of base security, I’m declaring the manhunt over.”

  “Wraith’s a fucking woman. Our woman. How the hell did this happen? Do you have any idea how many hours we’ve spent going over records, inventory, and video feeds looking for clues? Looking for you?” Colin glowered at her, but his lips were twitching into the beginnings of a smile.

  “It’s hardly my fault that you two decided to claim me after you caught me breaking into your house. Not that I’m not grateful for the way things turned out, but come on, you knew I was a thief!”

  “We knew you were a thief. That’s not quite the same as knowing you are the thief that’s been plaguing every Alliance outpost in this sector for nearly a decade.” Colin blinked. “Holy shit. You’ve been …but that’s…how old were you when you started this insanity?”

  She loved that Colin was more worried about her than he was about the news that she was a criminal. “I was raised in this insanity, remember? I should have been out on a raid the day the Alliance found me, but I’d wrecked my ankle on the last run and it wasn’t one hundred percent healed yet.”

  “You were doing raids at fourteen? I’m going to kill your foster father when I meet him,” Nik said.

  “Before you judge him, come out and see for yourself and where the goods I stole wound up. Maybe then you’ll understand.”

  Nikolai wanted to hit something, preferably Sam Dixon’s face. What kind of man would take a baby and raise her to be a thief? He hadn’t really thought about what her life had been like before they’d caught her breaking in. He didn’t like thinking about the woman he loved growing up amidst hardship and danger. He really didn’t like knowing that she’d actively sought out dangerous situations as a career choice.

  He had been expecting some kind of revelation since he’d caught her expression that time they’d mentioned Wraith, but he had never expected this. “You are never going to risk your neck like that again. Do you hear me, Alayna?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I heard you. I already told you, I’m retired. Keep in mind that you two wanted a woman with a backbone. Now you have one, you’re just going to have to suck it up and deal. I’m not now, nor will I ever be a meek, obedient little chosen.”

  Damn, she’s sexy when she gets riled.

  “Will you quit baiting her, Griz. I know how this will go. You tease, she sasses, and then next thing I know we’re having sex again. I’m all for more sex, but first we need to deal with the matter of our chosen being a wanted criminal.”

  That had Nikolai back on track. “She’s not a criminal. Alayna’s never been convicted of a crime.”

  “You know, he’s right. The Alliance only got a hold of me once, and not for very long. That’s why I invented Wraith. My record is clean.”

  “And now Wraith is going to disappear. He is going to disappear, right, princess?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I told you, I’m retired.” She waved dismissively and then uttered a soft sigh of relief. “You guys are taking this better than I expected.”

  Nikolai shook his head. “I don’t know about Ghost, but I’m still processing here. Give me another hour, by then I might have gotten over the overwhelming urge to spank your ass. Fuck. I just realized something. You’re Wraith. He’s Ghost. The universe is seriously messing with me today.”

  “I told you, we were fated to find you. Even our names match.” Colin was smirking now, and Nikolai couldn’t blame him. They had Alayna, and she was worth whatever headaches pain and sacrifice it would take to address her past, so that they could have a future together.

  He moved in closer beside her, close enough the subtle spice of her natural scent tickled at his nose. He loved catching a whiff of her perfume, whether it was clinging to his skin or lingering in the linens after she’d gotten out of bed. In the time she’d been with them, she’d woven herself into their lives, and Nikolai knew he was a better man for it. How long since they’d caught her coming down their stairs in the dark? He thought about it for a minute and realized that it had only been a week.

  Something about that time frame caused an itch at the back of his brain, and he tried to figure out why it bothered him. It wasn’t that he’d fallen for her in such a short time. He’d never expected it to happen so fast, but it felt right. No, it was something else—

  “Fuck! If you’re Wraith, then who the fuck broke into a warehouse last night? You haven’t been out of our sight in days.”

  Alayna sat up quickly, her mind already ticking through a list of potential suspects and coming up with no real possibilities. “Someone broke into a warehouse last night? When? What did they take?”

  “Sometime overnight, according to the reports. They took immunity boosters. An entire case of them.” Colin shot her a rueful grin. “I spent the past few hours wondering why the hell Wraith would steal something that was slated for delivery to the very people he…uh...you are championing.”

  “I wouldn’t have. Which is why I always do an intelligence gathering run before I stepped foot onto a base. I sent the information on transpo targets on to…other interested parties and used the rest to decide what I was taking and how I was getting it over the fence.” Alayna’s heart and mind were racing. Could the other thief be the one responsible for all the missing shipments? It certainly seemed likely.

  “So, who else could have done this? You willing to give us a list?” Nik asked.

  “No, I’m not giving you a list. I’m not turning over my friends to the Alliance or anyone else. Besides, I put this entire town on the blacklist last week. No
one I know would have done that job.”

  “There’s a blacklist?” Nik asked, one eyebrow arched in surprise.

  “We’re more organized than you think.” She tipped her head and smiled sweetly at them both. “Did you really think that the only person I contacted about my situation was Sam? I let my compatriots know this place had undergone security upgrades. We don’t hit hard targets, too much risk. Plus, this is my home now.”

  “How did you know about the upgrades?” Nik was getting agitated now, she could see it in the way the muscles along his jaw were clenched.

  “You guys brought me on base for my med-scan, remember? That wasn’t the first time I’ve been in that building. I saw the changes myself. Plus, you’ve been talking shop at home. You can’t blame a girl for listening. You two seriously underestimated me.”

  ‘That’s because you didn’t tell us who you were,” Nikolai snapped.

  “Actually, Griz, she did. Well, not in so many words, but if you think about it, Alayna’s always been pretty upfront about the fact she was a thief. We never really considered what that meant, because Wraith and his crew were supposed to be guys.”

  “For the record, I don’t have a crew.”

  Nikolai glowered and ran a hand through his hair. “I get why you did it. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy that you were a thief. Don’t make it worse by reminding me you didn’t have anyone looking out for you while you did it. And in my defense, I may have underestimated you, but that’s because I was distracted by all the sex and sass.”

  “Is that what you’re going to tell your superiors? You were distracted by my sass and my sexy ass?”

  “That is not what I said, minx! And we’re not telling our superiors anything. Rumor has it, Wraith retired. Now that you’re not pilfering our stores anymore, that should be easy to prove.” He reached up and tweaked a nipple in playful retaliation.

  “Yeah, if we figure out who the hell is still stealing from us. If it wasn’t you, then we’re going to have to start the investigation over again.” Colin groaned and flopped back onto the bed, his arm draped over his eyes.

  Alayna laughed as she looked at her two glum-faced bonded. “Buck up, babes. You’ll figure it out. And I bet it won’t take you very long either.”

  “You have no idea how much data we’re going to need to go over again. It’s going to take days,” Nikolai looked downright pained at the thought.

  “No, it won’t. Because this time you have something you didn’t have before. You have me. Who better to catch a thief than another thief?”

  Colin cracked open an eye to look up at her. “If you figure it out before we do, you can have Griz’s job.”

  “Deal.” Alayna was overjoyed that Colin would make such an offer, even in jest. She wanted to do something with her life. Something more than just be their chosen. This…could be perfect.

  “No, she fucking well can’t!” Nikolai bellowed.

  “Why can’t I?” Alayna asked, her stomach knotting at Nik’s denial.

  “Because! Uh, because you’re not an Alliance officer for one thing. And…uh…you’re too short.”

  “You did not just try and tell me there’s a height requirement for your job, did you? Because I’m calling bullshit.” Alayna snapped. Didn’t he understand how much this would mean to her? She could actually help her people this way.

  “Fine. Griz keeps his job. You can be a civilian advisor.”

  “The hell she can. Why do you keep trying to hire our chosen, Ghost? Are you nuts? Security is dangerous work!”

  Alayna opened her mouth to argue, but before she could, Colin interrupted. “So is she, or haven’t you been paying attention to the conversation? Besides, it’s pretty clear we need someone with rebel contacts to start the process of negotiating some kind of truce. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Alayna’s perfect. Not to mention the fact that if we leave her on her own, she’s going to get her sweet little ass in trouble. This way, she’s on base, reporting to us.”

  “So we can keep an eye on our minx?”

  “Exactly.”

  Alayna was tired of having the conversation about her future proceed without her input. “What if she says no? And Nikolai, why wouldn’t you want me to do this? Don’t you trust me?”

  “Why would you say no, princess? This way you have a job that doesn’t involve any felonies, you can help us improve security here and at the other bases, and eventually, we can hopefully find a way to improve life for Sam and the others like him.”

  At least Colin understands.

  Nikolai threw up his hands. “It’s not that I don’t want you to do it, exactly. I know you’d make a hell of a security consultant. And of course I trust you. I love you, Alayna. But you’re our chosen, and we’re supposed to protect you, not get you a job that puts you right in the line of fire!

  Damn it, that actually made sense.

  It was hard to get used to having people be so protective of her. She’d spent so long on her own, proving that she could do anything she set her mind to, it wasn’t easy to wrap her head around the fact that Nik and Colin believed in her completely.

  “And I love you. Both of you. But you can’t keep me swaddled and locked away from the world, that’s not who I am. I want to help you. I want to help my people…hell, I even want to help the fucking Alliance if it makes things better.”

  Nik sighed and scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

  “I’ll be very careful” she vowed and started working her way out from between her men.

  “And where do you think you’re going?” Colin asked her.

  “Me? I have a thief to catch. You two stay here as long as you want and catch your breath, but I’m going to head down to the office, call up your files and start looking for the son of a bitch who has been impersonating me.” She bounced off the edge of the bed and onto her feet, heading for her dresser.

  “You don’t have the password,” Colin pointed out.

  She picked up her wrist unit and strapped it back onto her wrist before grabbing a fresh change of clothes. “You mean, I don’t have the password…yet. There you go again, underestimating me.” She tugged on a shirt and then blew them a kiss as she walked out of the room, pants still in her hand. “See you downstairs.”

  As she left, she could hear both men muttering and then Nik said, “Civilian security advisor, Ghost? I’m not sure if you’re brilliant, or fucking insane.”

  She laughed all the way down to the office.

  ***

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  It didn’t take long for Alayna to gain access to the guys’ computer system. By the time they joined her downstairs, she was already rummaging through their files.

  “Remind me to upgrade your computer security protocols next,” she said with a grin as they walked into the room.

  “If we have our way, you’re going to be helping us upgrade the protocols for the whole base,” Colin told her and Nikolai nodded.

  “That should keep you busy for a while, minx.”

  She loved the idea of being able to work with her bonded. It would be a way for her to make sure that the people in the badlands got the supplies they were supposed to. She became a thief to help other people. If Nik and Colin could find a legitimate way for her to continue doing that, then she would gratefully take the opportunity.

  The three of them took up positions around the office, and then got to work, throwing out ideas and brainstorming as they read through the reports and re-started the entire investigation. Along with having each other to bounce ideas off of, Alayna was enjoying using the impressive electronic toys that were now at her disposal.

  There were data extrapolation programs that could work through huge volumes of information looking for any pattern they were instructed to find. An artificially intelligent operating system that seemed to anticipate her next question before she’d asked it, and what was probably her favorite feature of all, three dimensional displa
ys of security footage that could be spun, pivoted or zoomed in on by a simple voice command.

  As the hours passed it all started feeling very familiar to Alayna, as if she was back with Sam, planning their next raid, granted with far better equipment and more comfortable surroundings than she’d ever had before. Memories assailed her and she felt a pang of guilt. She hadn’t thought much about her foster father lately. She had been so busy trying to find her footing in her new reality that she hadn’t had the time or energy for anything else. Sam would understand, of course. He had raised her to be independent, to keep her life unfettered of material things and emotional entanglements. She glanced around and grinned to herself.

  So much for being unfettered.

  By now, he would have gotten her handwritten message telling him what had happened. She wondered how he’d taken the news. Would he come see her, or would he pull away? He might retreat into the badlands and cut off contact. As much as she loved him, she couldn’t deny that Sam was a cantankerous, distrustful old man who had lived most of his life hating the Alliance and everything it stood for. There was a chance he wouldn’t forgive her for being careless enough to get caught.

  Even if he did forgive her, she doubted he would ever understand how she could find any happiness with Nik and Colin and a life inside the Alliance. The Alliance was the enemy, one that was too big to be taken on directly. Sam had taught her to fight more subtly. He had taught them all to use stealth, misdirection and deceit instead of confrontation. Deceit and misdirection, those two words spun round and round her mind, sweeping aside every other thought until the pieces finally clicked.

  “Son of a bitch!” she yelled and stood, ignoring the pins and needles sensation that instantly attacked her legs. Damn, how long had they been sitting here, anyway?

  “What have you got?” Colin asked.

  “Argh! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this already. We’ve been so busy looking for evidence that someone was in the warehouse, we didn’t consider looking to see who wasn’t there.”