Fortune's Risk: A Star Thief Novella (Star Thief Chronicles #1.5) (3 page)

Finn groaned. “I should kill you for this. If I’d known I had to wear a suit…”

“Suck it up, old man. It’s a small price to pay for taking down the meanest bitch in coalition space.”

With a heavy sigh, Finn rose to his feet. “Fine. But I’m not sleeping with her. No matter what you say.”

Viktis found Lieutenant Keva just inside the lobby of the Luxor hotel. It was a modern hotel, with chrome and glass fixtures, but it never felt cold or clinical. He always made it a point to stay here when he was on the station. If he had the credits that trip.

Looked like Keva had good taste as well. She’d booked one of the best suites in the place. On an officer’s salary. Interesting choice.

He leaned against one of the marble pillars and watched her smile at the desk clerk before she headed toward the elevator. The woman was almost as tall as he was, and with her silver hair and violet skin, she was as striking as the twin moons on Antivia Nine. A little on the willowy side, but he could overlook that. The rest of the package was quite lovely. Too bad she’d rather fight with him than sleep with him.

He pushed himself upright and slipped inside the elevator, just as the doors closed.

Keva’s eyes widened.

“Enjoying shore leave, Lieutenant?” he asked as the elevator shot upward.

She arched an eyebrow at him. “I’d enjoy it more if you left me alone.”

Viktis chuckled, enjoying the curves visible through the clinging fabric of her street clothes. The woman knew how to fill out a shirt. “You hide it well, but I know your soul yearns for me when we’re apart.”

“Oh, is that what that is? I thought I’d eaten a bad pastry.” The elevator halted and she stepped into the hallway. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a reservation with a good book and a soft bed. I don’t plan on moving for two days if I can help it.”

Viktis followed, his worn boots sinking into the plush carpet. He wasn’t letting her get away that easily. “I’d be happy to keep you company in that bed. Provide some extra protection, you know, just in case MYTH tracks us down here.” The words were filler—vapid flirtation—but he wouldn’t say no if she agreed.

Keva turned, her gaze narrowed in a wordless threat.

He took a step back, holding up his hands in defeat. He also didn’t plan on getting punched today, either.

“I think I can manage on my own.” She walked away, but Viktis matched her long strides. She was sadly mistaken if she thought he’d just give up.

“What do you want, Viktis?” she asked, a note of weariness creeping into her voice. “Is it too much to ask for forty-eight hours of peace and quiet?”

“Look, I know it isn’t fair of me to ask, but I need your help.” And he’d do whatever it took to stop the Cordozas. One way or another.

Keva jerked to a halt in the middle of the silent hallway, eyes flashing. “No! I’m not going to help wash your back! Or anything else for that matter.”

He chewed his lip to keep from bursting into laughter. His mirth was chased away by an image of Keva covered in nothing but soap bubbles. The hallway suddenly felt oppressively warm and he tugged at his collar. “That’s not what I need. I’m being serious here, Keva.”

“Lieutenant Keva.”

“Fine, I’ll call you whatever you want if you’ll just hear me out.”

“I didn’t spend a week’s worth of salary on this room to stand here in the hall with you.”

“Does that mean you’re inviting me in?” he asked, glancing at the frosted glass door.

She rolled her eyes. “Not on your life. So spit it out, pirate. You’ve got sixty seconds before you’re kissing glass.”

“I don’t need sixty seconds.” He lowered his voice. “The captain and I need your help to take down the Black Widow.”

Keva’s eyes widened and she sucked in a tiny breath. “You can’t be serious. Anyone who’s ever tried to go after her has ended up dead or locked away for life.”

“But I have a plan.”

“I’m sure that’s what the rest of them thought, too. I can’t believe Captain Finn is helping you with this.” She frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “You’re not bribing him are you?”

“No. I’m not. Shocking, isn’t it?” Viktis said with a grin. “So what about you? Is the spoiled, rich girl afraid of getting her hands dirty?”

Keva’s lips parted with a furious gasp. “How dare you? You know nothing about me!”

Well, that’d struck home. Interesting. “I know enough,” he said. “Your accent is pure Preill. High-family stuff. You even walk like a royal, despite your military training. I should know. I used to be one myself.”

A muscle jumped in Keva’s jaw as she gritted her teeth. “Whatever my background is, it’s none of your business. And I’m not getting involved. You and Finn can do this without me.”

He crooked a hopeful smile at her. “Look. I thought you MYTH-types were all about stopping injustices and make the galaxy a better place. Getting this woman locked up for life is the best thing for everyone.”

Keva sighed heavily. “Except me.”

Viktis watched her shoulders slump. She was starting to crumble. He pushed forward. “The woman almost killed Myka. She’s a slaver and a bully, and the tech she’s here to retrieve could change everything. If we don’t do something, she’ll be unstoppable.”

Keva slipped her keycard into her door and shook her head. “I’ll think about it. After my nap.”

Viktis nodded to her room. “I could help you with that, if you wanted…”

“I don’t.”

Viktis saluted as she shut the door in his face. That had gone better than he’d expected.

CHAPTER 4

Three hours later, Viktis tugged at the high collar of his suit jacket and surreptitiously wiped his sweating palms on his black tuxedo pants. The last time he’d worn a suit was for Big Joe’s funeral, but according to his intel, Kitty Cordoza was a sucker for a man in a tux, and if he hoped to get close to her, he’d need to play the part.

Hopefully Finn was already playing his.

He walked through the casino doors, inhaling the scent of credits and desperation. The clanging metallic slot machines played their festive ditties in the background, while a group of Conyara aliens, squat women with grayish skin and thick ridges running parallel across their bald heads, stood around a roulette table, shouting at the little white marble in deep, raspy voices.

Across the room, he spotted Lieutenant Keva in the doorway. She paused, surveying the room, her tight black dress skimming her curves and showing off her long, long legs.

Viktis swallowed. Damn. The lieutenant was clearly hiding more than just a rich girl persona beneath her uniform.

He was going to have up his game. No doubt about it.

The woman spotted him and inclined her head regally before slowly making her way toward him. She’d pulled her silver hair up, and her violet eyes looked big and luminous in the glittering chandeliers that hung from the ceiling of the casino. A blue-clad waiter passed by, carrying a tray of champagne. Keva lifted a glass without missing a beat.

A woman after his own heart.

He couldn’t help but watch her wet her lips before taking a sip. Her eyes fluttered closed as she swallowed.

Viktis fiddled with his collar again and shifted uncomfortably.
Pull yourself together
, he ordered.

“Not bad,” Keva said, letting her gaze travel down Viktis’s body. “You clean up well. For an Ileth.”

“I’d make an equally witty comment about you, Lieutenant, but you’ve left me so breathless I can’t find the words.”

She looked away, but Viktis caught the curl of her lips and tried to ignore the thrill that shot through him. There was nothing better than making a beautiful woman happy. There were a few other ways he’d like to delight her, too. Unfortunately, they would have to wait.

But when this was all over…

“Where’s Captain Finn?” she asked, scanning the crowds.

“I sent him on ahead. Figured I’d give him a chance to brush up on his Costa Five.”

The poker tables were across the casino floor, beneath the garish flashing helo-lights. These tables were for high rollers, with a minimum bet of ten thousand credits. It was early yet, so most of the tables were empty. Luckily, the one Viktis had scoped out still had an open seat.

They headed toward the other side of the casino, and Viktis snagged his own glass of champagne from a passing waitress. As he walked, he caught the suggestive gaze of a tall, Trezian woman. Viktis returned her smile. Beside him, he thought he heard Keva grind her teeth.

“You ready for this?” he asked quickly, drawing her attention—and his—away from the other woman’s beckoning glance. His gaze drifted down to the bulge on her thigh. “I see you came prepared.”

She smiled, tugging up the hem of her dress enough to show the holster and pistol strapped to her shapely leg. “Always. I am your bodyguard after all.”

“And what a bodyguard,” he said with a smirk.

Keva shook her head. “There you go with your awful innuendoes again. No wonder no one takes you seriously.”

“Who wants to be taken seriously?” He nodded to the table where Finn was already sitting, a stack of chips growing in front of him. “What’s it done for that guy? Broken heart, boring life, treason. No thanks, I’ll stick to my happy-go-lucky personality and get along just fine. Now start looking like a guard.”

She dropped back to walk behind him as he approached the poker table. Two men and a woman wearing a shocking red dress were waiting for the game to begin.

“Is this seat taken?” he asked the woman. Her dark hair was carefully dyed, her unlined face showed faint signs of frequent surgery to keep it looking fresh. As he let his gaze drift appreciatively down her body, he noticed that she had the smooth curves of a much younger woman.

She smiled at him, completing her own careful inspection with big, gray eyes. “Not anymore.” Her smoky voice was like pure sex, and as she leaned forward to help pull out the chair, she twisted her torso, providing him an excellent view of her perfect cleavage. Instead of being attracted to the beautiful woman, Viktis forced back a shudder.

Kitty Cordoza was flirting with him.

But he was here to play the game, so he pretended to be flattered. “Thank you. Perhaps you’ll be my good luck charm. I certainly need it after my stint at the roulette tables earlier.” Viktis shook his head with a wry smile. “I must have lost a hundred thousand credits.”

“Ouch,” Kitty said, running a blood-red nail across the green felt of the table as she gazed at him from beneath darkened eyelashes.

Viktis shrugged. “Eh, it’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing.” He paused, then added, “I hate to lose.”

A slow smile curved her lips. “So do I.”

He held out a hand. “Ravy Zero.”

She shook it, letting her smooth fingers linger a little longer in his hand than proper. “Kitty Cordoza.”

Behind him, Keva took up a military stance, her face as impassive as stone. Viktis flashed Kitty a smile as he caught her gaze flick to the Delfine. “I hope my bodyguard doesn’t make you nervous.”

“Of course not. I have a few myself. A girl can’t be too careful.”

“I agree completely. It would be such a shame if anything were to happen to a pretty face like yours.”

Before Kitty could figure out if Viktis’s words were a compliment or a threat, the dealer droid pulled a fresh stack of cards from the table. “Are we ready for the next hand?”

The rest of the players murmured their consent, and Viktis snuck a glance past Kitty. Finn sat on her right side, also dressed in a tuxedo. He’d smoothed his usually messy hair back, and his flinty eyes watched everyone with seeming disinterest.

Perfect.

Finn glanced down at his hand after the cards were dealt, his face expressionless. Everyone else at the table seemed to be hiding their tells as well. Viktis had no idea what the other hands looked like.

Good thing it didn’t really matter.

“Two cards, please,” Finn said, passing over two from his hand.

Beside him, Kitty shook her head. Finn did the same. The final man took three cards, then frowned as he viewed what he’d received from the dealer. “Please place your bets. Ma’am?”

Kitty pushed two chips to the center of the table. “Twenty thousand.”

Viktis arched an eyebrow at her and added a third chip to his pile. “I’ll see that and raise you ten.”

The other men grumbled and added their chips to the pile, but Kitty took her time, sliding the octagonal disk carefully over the green felt, her gaze never leaving Viktis’s. “Must be quite a hand.”

“I’ll never tell,” he said.

“Good thing I’m skilled at getting secrets from even the most inscrutable men.” Her smile was feral and Viktis forced his to stay pinned to his face. Behind him, Keva snorted, quickly turning it into a cough.

“Hands,” the dealer said, breaking the painful tension between them. Viktis could have kissed the robot.

Each player displayed their cards. At the end of the table, Finn crowed, “Damn, that’s me again. This table is hot!” He pulled the stack of chips toward him, grinning like a fool. Then he glanced up and spotted Viktis.

His smile got even wider. “By the gods! Ravy Zero? Is that you?” He jumped from his chair and grabbed Viktis’s hand, pumping it up and down. “It’s been, what? Four years? Last time I saw you, you were finishing a deal on Antivia Nine. Bought a million credits worth of cybertech, if I remember correctly. And you still have the same guard. I’d remember those legs anywhere!”