Aldani had trusted her enough to fix her implant, but if Dallas had been killed, maybe no one left at MYTH knew the terms of their agreement or her pardon. She’d have to take care of herself like always.
This was no time to go developing a conscience.
Renna glanced down the hallway. Empty. She wouldn’t get a better chance. As if on their own, her feet headed down the corridor. When she spotted the first security camera, she paused, careful to stay out of its range. She watched it rotate back and forth and, with a zap of her nanospanner, stunned it in a position where she could sneak beneath it. The second camera was as easy as the first. Even better, when security reviewed the feed in the morning, all they’d think was that the mechanics had malfunctioned. It might keep suspicion off her for a little while.
With her implant working again, Renna found the lab she’d noticed earlier easily enough. A few minutes at the touchpad had her inside without a hitch. The last tech had dimmed the lights. Only a few weak helobulbs lit the long metal tables and the gleaming test tubes. A double-walled safe room had been built in the center of the space, and through the tempered glass walls, she could see the computer chips. Row after row of pinhead-sized dots of metal.
The Coalition government would be pleased with Aldani’s work. Once implanted in a server, these chips would be able to infiltrate any network in the system, gathering data, spying on terrorists, keeping watch on the net users and hackers who threatened national security, allowing communications to travel even more quickly between distant systems.
A few of these on the open market would even up the score a bit and allow the hackers a way into government systems as well. The net should be a two-way street. It was never fair to have all the power on one side. And like Viktis had said—someone was going to make a buck off the job. It might as well be her.
She crouched at the door of the safe room and gazed at the glowing pad. Well, well, what was this? The tech was something she’d never seen before. Homegrown, probably developed in-house by Dr. Aldani’s team.
Renna grinned and cracked her knuckles. Tumbling a new lock was like having sex with someone for the first time. Sure, it was a little awkward learning all the ins and outs, but the thrill of discovery more than made up for it. Carefully, she sliced into the system, each movement checked and double-checked before she proceeded with the crack. Wires and cyberware wove throughout the device in elegant circuits. Challenging, even for her.
Renna’s stomach fluttered, and she took a deep breath. She hadn’t felt like this in years. Since her first major safe crack, to be exact.
It was her first job after leaving Blur’s gang, and she’d lied to get the contract, assuring the mark she’d broken through dozens of chemocyclic locks. She’d practiced at home for a week before going in, memorizing every circuit, every route through the lock, every wire and pin. And when she was there, crouched in the CEO’s office, she’d felt it. The surge of adrenaline, the feel of power that kept her coming back for more. It had taken her forty-five seconds to get through the safe and retrieve the datapad. Another two minutes to get back outside undetected. And three days to come off the high she’d gotten from finishing the job.
Blur had bought her a bottle of Scottish whiskey to celebrate.
Renna steered her mind back to the task at hand. One slipped wire could alert the whole compound. A few more seconds, and she heard the dulcet sounds of the safe turning off. She was in.
She slipped a single case of the microchips into her pocket, and a rush of adrenaline made her whole body tremble. No need to be greedy. Each of these babies would earn her a small fortune. She could hold onto the sapphire a bit longer, let the legend grow before cashing it in. She’d never need to work again.
Quickly, she reprogrammed the system, backing out and removing any sign of her presence. The safe clicked, then hummed again, and she stroked the metal pad fondly with one finger. Dr. Aldani had a devious and brilliant mind. If only she had a little more time to probe it more deeply.
She slipped out of the lab and made her way back to the elevator. The hallway to her room was empty, and she finally let herself relax. She’d made it. Hopefully they’d be long gone tomorrow before Aldani’s staff discovered the theft.
She didn’t bother to walk quietly, and the tap of her boots on the floor echoed off the marble floors. As she passed, one of the doors slid open, and Finn stepped out, his face stern.
“Where have you been?” he demanded.
She frowned at the accusatory tone. “With Dr. Aldani. Is there a problem?”
“I can’t imagine he wants someone like you wandering around his facility.”
Her muscles tightened every time the blasted man even opened his mouth. If only she wasn’t so aware of the other things that tightened as well. “Dr. Aldani trusts me. Maybe you should, too.”
His words matched the ice blue of his eyes. “Trust you? I wouldn’t trust you if you were a Priestess of Preill.”
“It’s a good thing I don’t look good in green then, isn’t it? Those habits aren’t at all flattering for a girl with my figure.” She turned to walk away, determined not to let him get to her, but Finn grabbed her arm. His fingers dug into her skin. When she tried to yank away, they only tightened.
“Get your hand off me. Now.” Steel laced her voice, her entire body coiled to attack.
Finn’s hand fell away from her arm, but he didn’t step back. He crowded her, threatening and hard as stone. “I want to know what game you’re playing,” he said, staring down at her.
“Games? You want to talk about games, Hunter?” She emphasized the title ever so slightly.
His eyes widened a fraction, and he glanced down the hall. “I told you that part of my life is over. I’m one of the good guys now. Unlike you and your merry band of misfit mercenaries.”
“Jealous?” she asked sweetly. “Do you remember how it felt after the rush of a dangerous job? The adrenaline of getting through an impossible situation? I can’t imagine being in MYTH is nearly as exciting.”
“I’ve had my share of excitement since joining, I promise.” He emphasized the last word in an echo of her earlier tone, and she flinched.
Dammit. He’d been the one to drill that code into her head when she’d joined the gang. He knew she didn’t use the word lightly.
“Tell me what you were doing with Aldani,” he demanded.
“It’s none of your business.” Her shrug was dismissive, but his closeness made every cell in her body quiver with awareness. Anger and desire surged through her in equal measures. She hated that she was still attracted to him after all this time, even more so now that he was acting all alpha male on her.