by Toni Jackson
“You had no problems locating the portal?”
“No,” Connor answered, taking in his surroundings as we walked through the hallways back to the communications center. He smiled broadly at the women walking by, which told me he still wasn’t mated. I shook my head until I thought about Morningstar.
“Um, so Connor, I think you’d better be on your best behavior while you’re here. Hitman is married and I’d really hate for there to be any confusion while we try to get this situation under control. Not to mention that most of the women here work for Bitter.”
Connor frowned. “Bitter. Bitter.The Iceman? The one who was friends with Sonus?”
“Yes. That Bitter. Cold heart and short temper.”
“And Hitman? Mr. Indestructible?” He threw his head back and started laughing. “Is he still so hard to kill? I always wanted to toss him off a building to test that out.”
I stopped and turned to him. “Conner! This isn’t a game. This is important! Do. Not. I repeat. Do. Not. Get Hitman riled up. I won’t call Obisidian, but I will call our dear mother.”
He froze in place. “You wouldn’t. You haven’t spoken to her in centons.”
“Try me.” If he wasn’t going to be helpful, then he could turn around and hop back on his cruiser.
“Fine,” He bowed. “You have my word. No females while I’m here.”
With a nod, I turned back around and continued to lead him towards the comm center.
Once we reached the room, I motioned for him to have a seat while I had the other members of the team paged. After a few minutes, Hitman, Bitter, and Engels filed into the room.
I watched to see if Dispatch would follow them into the room. “Where’s Dispatch?”
“Resting.” Hitman sat, arms crossed. “Connor.”
“Hitman. He dipped his head towards Engels and Bitter. ”Gentlemen.”
“Now that everyone is here, I need to ask you, Connor, what do you know about Drogos?”
Connor paled and studied everyone at the table. “Drogos? Why would anyone from Earth ask me about Drogos? That weapon is light years out of your reach.”
Hitman stared back at Connor, smirking. “Evidently not, since we have not one, but two in the armory.”
“You can’t! How?” He sat forward, his hands gripping the edge of the table so hard, his knuckles looked white.
Everyone looked at Bitter. “I can’t reveal my sources. Let’s just say I got it at a special discount.”
“A Drogos is not a toy! In the wrong hands…” he turned to me. “Terra. You have to let me take it off the planet. I can take it to one of the dead moons of Drius and set it off there.”
Bitter frowned. “Unless someone is reimbursing me for the money spent, plus an...incentive fee, they’re not going anywhere. It was Dispatch’s suggestion to buy them for protection.”
Connor’s lips turned down. “It’s not like Dispatch to rest in the middle of the day. The Dispatch I know barely sleeps.”
“I helped in the sleep department. But we should come up with a plan whilst he’s out.”
“Are you sure what you have is a Drogos?”
I turned and looked at the others. Hitman nodded and stood to lead the way. As we walked in silence, I could feel the nervousness everyone fought to keep hidden. Hitman entered a code on the panel beside the steel door protecting the weapons from the rest of the compound. Following his lead, we continued into the armory to another door that contained a fingerprint, optical and an alphanumeric keypad.
Opening the door, he stepped inside and waved his hand. A soft light appeared, focused on the metallic items that sat on a pedestal in the middle of the floor. Looking over the top of his glasses, Hitman crossed his arms over his chest. “You were saying?”
Connor seemed to deflate before my eyes. “I guess it’s time to come up with some answers.”
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