Bytes of Passion

Chapter 26

Teegan paced in the small cockpit. He was locked out of everything he needed to either follow Skylar or check in with his team, and given that he was already days overdue, they probably thought him dead. This entire mission had gone sideways and was about to get worse. While he had no clue what Garrox planned for Skylar, it was going to be on a scale they hadn't seen from Devon's Disciples, he was sure of it.

Assuming Garrox and Skylar left right after him, and assuming they were heading in opposite directions at similar speeds, that placed him at least four hours away from them. Time and distance were not on his side. A yellow light from the computer caught his eye. There was a message in his personal mailbox that hadn't been there a minute ago. Were the coms now open? He scrambled to write the basics his team would need and he hit send, only to watch the message self-delete as had all the others he'd tried sending.

For whatever reason, one item had slipped through Garrox' tampering. He clicked on the message in his inbox. The subject line read 'Apple Pie half price Quintero Station.' A message from Skylar! He opened the message, but it was blank. Seconds later his navigation panel beeped. Instead of asking his passcode, the computer prompted him.

'List three parts of a wall one should never touch.'

His mouth curled into a smile as he entered 'Pen, Ribbon, and Rocks.' The second he hit 'enter', lines of code sped by at a fantastic rate, then the ship lurched and came to a dead halt. All of his panels came to life. With a few light touches at the controls, the ship shot forward, once again under his command. Apparently Garrox' people hadn't been watching his Princess closely while Garrox had been talking with him. She'd negotiated to have him sent into space because she knew she could override whatever Garrox would do to his computer. A time-released program... brilliant. Now it was up to him to find her.

Teegan reversed direction and sent an emergency message through the coms. As soon as he talked with his team, he'd have their intel and hopefully a location on her ship, or an idea of what Garrox was up to.

Another email popped into his personal inbox. This one was labeled "Dear Teegan." Those words filled him with dread, but he forced himself to open the letter.

'Time is short. I don't know what Garrox plans, only that he needs me to hack a facility. I wrote this before leaving Baccarus 3. Whatever happens, I want you to know that I'm sorry, and that I never meant to hurt you. I love you, Teegan, but I can't let them continue killing people. One way or another I will stop them.

Be well,

Skylar.'

"Fuck!" Teegan slammed his com again and resent his emergency codes. "Don't leave me hanging, you assholes!" Skylar was planning something that would get her killed and he still had no idea where she was.