Kayla’s eyes widened. “Why the hell would you do a thing like that? Shit, Carl, he’s going to blame me. If he didn’t already want to permanently dump my databanks, he definitely will now. If you wanted me out of your district so badly, you could have at least given me a head’s up to get the hell out of OmniLab territory.”
Veridian ran a jerky hand through his hair, looking worried. “Can you call OmniLab and tell them you made a mistake?”
“I can’t,” Carl said simply. “The other two traders have signed off on the petition and OmniLab is investigating. But even if I could call it off, I wouldn’t. As it is, you don’t trust us. The only way we’re ever going to be able to repair the relationship between traders and ruin rats is if we’re held accountable for our actions.”
“At the risk of getting Kayla killed?” Veridian demanded.
“Not if I can help it.” Carl turned to Kayla, holding out his hands in apology. “I wasn’t expecting Ramiro to respond this way. For that, I take full responsibility. I know what you think of traders, but I can protect you. Ramiro’s going to be throwing all of his resources into hunting you down. He seems to think if he gets rid of you, he’ll eliminate the threat of being removed as a trader. If you accept the offer I made, I can help you. I can keep you safe.”
Kayla’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
“If you join my crew, you’ll be in a secure base. You’ll have my resources backing you. Otherwise, you won’t last more than a couple of days on your own. Look how easy it was for me to track you down. It’ll be just as easy for Ramiro.”
She gaped at him. Were they really back to that again? She didn't bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “Oh, isn’t that convenient? Forget it. I’ll take my chances with Ramiro. At least if he kills me, there’ll be some poetic justice in that.”
“Kayla,” Veridian's voice was soft but insistent, his eyes full of concern.
She shook her head. “Oh no, V, don’t you look at me like that. You know I can’t. I won’t do it.”
Veridian walked up to her and took her hands in his. “Carl’s right. You need to do this. I’ve been trying to help you pick up the pieces for the past year, but I can’t help you with this. You owe it to Pretz to accept this offer. Don’t let Ramiro hurt you.”
Kayla tried to pull away. “Don’t you dare bring him up.”
Veridian gripped her tighter, not letting go. “I can’t lose you, Kayla. You’re the only family I have left.”
His pained words tore through her and she bowed her head, closing her eyes tight. She wanted to scream in frustration. The thought of hurting Veridian was like a knife tearing through her, but she didn't know how she could possibly reconcile her emotions enough to work for OmniLab.
As though sensing her need for movement, Veridian released her. She stepped away, feeling torn. Pacing around the small area under the portable UV Guard, she kicked at her bike. Running her hands through her hair in agitation, she contemplated her options. Sadly, there weren't many. She turned to look at Carl, who seemed to be waiting for her to come to the conclusion he'd already reached. She swallowed and hung her head. “How long?”
“The contract would be for a year,” Carl replied, and exhaled as though he'd been holding his breath. “It’s an OmniLab contract and their requirement, not mine. You can leave after that, if that’s what you still want.”
She turned away and stared off into the horizon. The sun was beginning to set.
Fitting.
“Kayla, I’m not trying to force you into this. I honestly had no idea Ramiro would target you. If anything, I figured he would have gone after me. It was never my intention to put you in danger. If I could protect you at Leo’s camp, I would. I wanted you to join my crew willingly, not like this.”
“I know,” she said in annoyance and turned around to look at him. “Dammit, I know. For what it’s worth, I appreciate it. You’re not a bad guy, Carl. You’re a pain in the ass, but you’re not a bad guy.”
Veridian looked hopeful. “So you’ll agree to join him?”
“Yeah,” she said in dejection, shoving her hands in her back pockets. “Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice if I want to keep breathing.”
Carl nodded and Cruncher handed him a small computer tablet. He pulled up the contract and offered it to her.
“It’s the same contract you reviewed the other day,” he explained. “Just press your thumb on the bottom panel. It’ll scan your thumbprint and take a small blood sample to record your DNA.”
Kayla took the contract from him. “And Veridian?”
Carl nodded. “His contract is already prepared. It would be in his best interest to join us too. I’m sure Ramiro knows that the easiest way to get to you is through Veridian.”
Kayla looked down at the tablet. She pressed her thumb against the bottom panel until she felt a slight pinch. The tablet beeped its acceptance of her sample. It was such a small thing, but she felt like she'd just signed part of herself away. Struggling to keep her hand from shaking, she handed it back to Carl. If he noticed, he didn't say anything. He pressed a few buttons before passing it to Veridian.
Veridian scanned the document and pressed his thumb against it. When it beeped, Carl took the tablet. “Well, it didn’t happen quite the way I hoped, but I’m glad you’re part of the team. I’ve sent your contracts directly to OmniLab to be recorded. You’re now authorized to act on my behalf throughout this district.”
Cruncher grinned and shook Veridian’s hand, then gave Kayla a big bear hug. “Welcome to the dark side, kiddo. I’m glad you came around.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. “Yeah, well, let’s see if you’re still saying that after a year.”
Xantham grabbed her, picked her up, and swung her around. He kissed her cheek and exclaimed, “Shit, girl! This is going to be great.”
She laughed as Xantham put her down. Carl smiled at them. “If you don’t mind, I think it might be safest if you came back directly to our camp, Kayla. Veridian, Cruncher can go with you to pick up your things and escort you back.”
Kayla and Veridian exchanged a look and Veridian shook his head. “That’s okay. I think I should go alone. If Cruncher comes to Leo’s camp, a lot of people are going to freak out. I need to talk to Leo and explain it to him. I’ll stay there tonight and come over tomorrow with our things.”
Carl nodded in agreement.
Veridian hugged Kayla. “Thanks. You’re doing the right thing.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered but squeezed him tightly as she returned his hug. After she pulled away, she picked up her helmet and glanced back at her bike where the purloined items were hidden.
“So, now that I’m part of your crew, do I have to turn over the loot I scavenged earlier?”
Cruncher and Xantham chuckled while Carl closed his eyes and shook his head in exasperation. Kayla gave them a small shrug. Did they really think she'd been taking in the view?
“We’ll figure it out.” Carl sighed. “It’s getting late and I want to get back to camp and find out what’s going on with Ramiro. They’ve been monitoring his chatter back at camp. I had to bring Xantham with me to help track you.”
“All right,” Kayla agreed and mounted her bike with the others. Veridian disengaged the UV Guard and gave her a wave before taking off toward Leo’s camp. She hesitated a moment, wanting to follow him but dutifully turned her bike to follow Carl and the others back toward their camp.
* * *
When they arrived, Kayla dismounted and followed Carl inside. Even though she had just been there a few days ago, things were entirely different now. She followed the example of the men, hanging up her helmet and jacket at the entrance.
“Let me show you where you’ll be staying,” Carl offered. She bit her lip but nodded in agreement. Her feet felt heavy as she trudged behind him into the crew’s quarters.
Someone had already set up two additional sleeping areas, complete with privacy dividers. There was a storage locker and a desk in each area. The personal areas were about three times the size of what she had at Leo’s camp. She couldn't help but feel annoyed at the sight though. These areas hadn't been there a few days ago.
Cocky bastard knew we’d accept before he even came out to find me
.
Her first instinct was to snap at him for his assumption. But when she looked up at him, his brows were furrowed as though he was worried about her reaction. She faltered, wondering if she could be reading him wrong. Most traders wouldn't have cared about what happened to someone like her, much less sought her out and offered to protect her. Biting back her retort, she said, “Pretty nice.”
Carl gave her a warm smile, looking pleased at her comment. “If there’s anything else you need, let me know. I want you to be happy here, Kayla.”
Kayla looked up in surprise, the intensity of his gaze making her stomach do a neat little somersault.
Oh, crap
,
he’s got the most incredible eyes.
“Thanks, Carl,” she managed with a weak smile. “I can’t imagine needing anything else, except maybe some clean clothes. I’m not sure what time Veridian’s going to make it back.”
“I can help with that,” Jinx called out from her private area, making it obvious she'd been listening to their conversation. She popped her head out with a grin, her eyes twinkling. “I’m glad you decided to join us. I know you probably weren’t ready to make the leap, but we’re happy to have you on the team. You can borrow some of mine until you get your things. I’ll leave them in your locker.”
“Thanks.”
Carl cleared his throat, drawing her attention back to him. “Kayla, if you want, I’d like to take you over to the tech room. You should become familiar with our system and we need to configure your comlink for our frequencies. We can check with Xantham too and find out what’s going on with Ramiro.”
“Sure.” With another wave at Jinx, she followed Carl out of the crew’s quarters and into the tech room. Cruncher and Zane were in the room working on one of the systems.
When she walked in, Zane stood up and greeted her. “Welcome to the crew.”
Xantham came skidding into the room. His face lit up at the sight of her and he flashed a huge grin. “This is going to be great! Kayla, wait until you see some of the toys we’re getting in the next few weeks.”
Kayla laughed at their enthusiasm. Although she still felt a little uncomfortable, they seemed to be going out of their way to make her feel welcome. “Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.”
* * * *
Carl and Xantham had disappeared and left her with Cruncher, explaining they needed to configure their communication settings to allow her access to their frequencies. Cruncher was in the process of giving her an overview of their system map and she leaned over to get a closer look. It looked like a security grid around the camp.
She had to remind herself she was playing for the other team now as Cruncher pointed to the screen and launched into an explanation. “These systems track any movement within range. Any guests, invited or uninvited, are picked up. Our bikes have monitors that let us know when it’s one of us approaching or someone else. We’ll install one on your bike tomorrow morning.”
She nodded. The system appeared much more sophisticated than what they had at Leo’s camp but there were some similarities. She made a mental note to investigate it more fully later on. For research purposes, of course. After all, her contract was only for a year.
Cruncher moved over to another computer that monitored the camp’s UV Guard, air flow, temperature, light, and energy. Kayla looked at it and frowned, pointing to some numbers. “You guys are using way too much energy on your cooling unit.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Oh? You think you can do better?”
“Pfft,” she said with a grin, unable to resist a challenge. “Watch and learn.”
He turned over the controls to her and watched as she rerouted the energy fields throughout the camp. After about thirty minutes, she turned the controls back over to him.
“Damn, girl,” he muttered as he reviewed her work. “Where did you learn to do this?”
She gave a small shrug. “Here and there. But while I was doing that, I noticed some potential energy conflicts with some of the new gizmos you’re testing. I think they might be causing a few hiccups in your system. A few months ago, I wrote a program that can help smooth some of these out. Mind if I upload it and run a scan to fix the problems?”
“Not at all.” He pointed to another monitor. “You can set it up over on that screen.”
She scooted over to the far side of the desk and pulled up an additional monitor. She scrolled through the data on her comlink until she found the program she was looking for. She uploaded the file and then paused as she recognized an old video file she'd never been able to bring herself to remove.
Glancing up, she saw Cruncher was still engrossed in the screen. She slipped on her earpiece and watched the video in silence. A soft smile crept on her face and she blinked back the tears that threatened when the video ended.
With a sigh, she turned away from the comlink, determined to focus on her task. She scanned through Carl’s system and looked for trouble spots.
* * * *
An hour later, Carl walked back into the tech room. He was anxious to find out how his newest recruit was getting along. Cruncher was hunched over a monitor reviewing some of the security system data.
“Where’s Kayla?”
Cruncher turned to look at Carl and put a finger to his lips, motioning to him to keep his voice down. He nodded over to the corner of the room where Kayla was sitting with her head in her arms on the desk. She'd fallen asleep at the computer.
Carl’s mouth twitched in a smile. She was always so fiery and passionate. It was strange seeing her like this and he felt as though he were witnessing some forbidden rite. Some of her dark hair had fallen over her face and she appeared almost angelic in her repose.
Cruncher's whisper cut through his musing. “That girl is freaking unbelievable. I showed her the systems and she jumped right in. She’s got some serious tech skills. Within minutes, she ended up recalibrating the cooling system here in camp. It’s some damn nice work too. She’s got it running about 30% more efficiently. When she finished that, she reconfigured a bunch of our new equipment that was causing glitches.”