Polaris Read Free Page A

Jeth shrugged. “If that’s how you feel. I’m sure the cipher will be worth something to someone else.”
    Wainwright tented his fingers in front of him. “Wrong. The cipher might have been worth something if you hadn’t left all those witnesses alive. Witnesses tend to talk, and it’s only matter of time before word of the theft gets back to Mirage.”
    Jeth clenched his teeth. Not all of them were still alive. Not that stupid woman. Why did she have to — He stopped the thought and forced his jaw to relax. “Mirage won’t be able to modify their encryption software overnight. There’s plenty of time to gather flight intel and to intercept enough shipments to make it worthwhile.”
    Wainwright shook his head. “Mirage will double the security on all flights and give their pilots authority to fly unrecorded routes. No, the cipher is practically worthless already.” He sat back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. “This metatech information on the other hand, that would be worth a great deal. Rumor has it that the ITA has no idea why so many metadrives are failing. If things keep on the way they are, there won’t be any shipments for my people to intercept at all. Travel in the universe will come to a complete halt. But if you have the key to changing that . . .”
    Jeth racked his brain for a response. It was all true. The metatech was failing, and he did have the key to stopping it. But he wouldn’t hand it over. Not for all the money in the worlds.
    He opened his mouth to deny it once again, but before he could, the vid screens in the corners flickered to life,flashing a uniform red. For a second, he thought it was some part of the room’s design, but then the star and eagle emblem of the ITA appeared across the screen. Gooseflesh broke out over his skin at the sight of it.
    â€œWhat is this?” Wainwright said, turning.
    No one answered as the banal background music cut off and a message began to play. For a second, Jeth couldn’t make sense of it. This was an Independent spaceport; they had no obligation to broadcast ITA special bulletins. But then with a sickening wrench in his gut, understanding clicked. The bulletin was an announcement of a newly posted ten-million-uni reward for the capture of an ITA fugitive. Nuvali was Independent, but it knew its clientele well.
    Too well, it seemed, as Jeth watched his own face and name flash across the screen.

CHAPTER 02
    HIS FIRST THOUGHT WAS, HELL, FOR THAT SORT OF MONEY , I should turn myself in.
    His second was that the image looked nothing like him. The dark brown hair was the same and the green of his irises, but the boy in that picture was too young, the eyes too soft. And Jeth was certain an honest smile as carefree and cocksure as that one hadn’t graced his lips in a long time.
    Nevertheless, it was indeed him. He recognized the photo as one Hammer had taken two years ago for a fake ID Jeth needed for a job. He couldn’t remember which; there had been so many. The next second, panic blossomed in Jeth’s chest as a hot, thrashing spasm ready to explode out from him in a bellow.
    He held it back, his body absolutely still in his desperation to stay calm.
    Wainwright glanced at him, smirking. “Heard wrong, did I?”
    Jeth didn’t reply as Wainwright returned his attention to the screen. Jeth looked too, overtaken by the same curiosity. So far none of his crew had been mentioned. Instead, the bulletin had gone on to detail Jeth’s crimes that ranged from extortion (true) to acts of terrorism (what the hell?) . Thislast, they claimed, was for the destruction of a C-93 Strata cruise ship carrying more than four thousand civilians—an act supported by video footage.
    Jeth watched transfixed as the massive, cumbersome ship appeared on the screen, a giant innocuous whale in a tranquil sea of stars. A moment later, a brilliant burst of light exploded