Bastien took a second to look at it. "Yeah. It's the contract for your a.s.s. Spill-kill. Bonus for your head. d.a.m.n, Hauk. If I could spend money, I'd be tempted to end you for this amount. Fain or no Fain."

Dancer shook his head, knowing Bastien wouldn't dare. "Does it say who wants me dead?"

"Nah. He's right. Just lists an anonymous ID for payment. If this armpit of the Nine Worlds had any reception, you might be able to backtrace it. But as it is..."

"See! I-" The man's words ended with a sharp blast to his chest.

Dancer stepped over his body.

Bastien handed him the PD. "You're one cold son of a b.i.t.c.h."

Dancer jerked the a.s.sa.s.sin's sleeve back to show the catalog of kills he'd carved into his flesh as proud tribute for all the victims he'd made.

Half of them were for women and children.

"He deserved worse."

Bastien shot the body three more times.

Dancer arched a brow at his actions.

Shrugging, Bastien holstered his weapon. "He deserved worse."

"Spend a lot of time in the sun, do you?"

More than he could imagine. Bastien laughed as Dancer went inside the skimmer to see if there was anything he could use to get away from any others who might come for him.

Or better yet, if they could fly it out themselves.

Unfortunately, it was low on fuel. And as he'd suspected, it was a preprogrammed skimmer used to take the a.s.sa.s.sins to and from their outer atmosphere s.p.a.ceship. Which meant there were more of them waiting for this group to return.

Great. Just great. Leave it to a Hauk to rain down a.s.sa.s.sins on the head of his Ravin a.s.s.

Bastien barely bit back a groan at this new nightmare. Out of the frying pan and into the fryer ...

An alarm sounded.

"What'd you do?" Bastien asked sardonically.

Sighing, Dancer shot the control panel that housed the signal. It went instantly silent. "Must have been wired to the mission leader's vitals. It's an alarm to the mother ship notifying the others that they're dead."

Fected awesome ... Bastien glared at the sky, expecting the enemy to start dropping in any second, given his luck. "How many you think are up there?"

"Don't know. But they're down twenty-nine men."

"Survivors will be glad they don't have to split that wide a cut."

Dancer grunted. "Boldorians won't care about that. It's now an honor quest for them to come get me. With reinforcements."

"Really?"

He nodded. "You scared yet?"

Bastien let out a false laugh. "I'm hunted by League a.s.sa.s.sins for fun and promotion, and you think these backwater p.u.s.s.ies scare me? Really?"

Dancer clapped him on the back as a sign of brotherhood. "When we get that chip out of you, if you need a place, The Sentella's always looking for good people."

Yeah, but that wasn't him. "I have some long-overdue payback to shove up someone's a.s.s first. After that? I just might accept your offer."

Dancer confiscated arms, ammunition, and a radio before pulling back. He paused long enough to check the tracking device's broadcast frequency.

"What are you doing?" Bastien asked with a frown.

"Reprogramming this to their frequency. They land, talk to each other, and I can peg them as fast as they peg me."

Impressive, but he should expect no less from a Hauk. "You are Fain's brother."

"Taught him everything he knows."

Bastien arched a disbelieving brow.

Dancer grinned. "About electronics. He taught me fighting ... usually by sitting on my a.s.s until I got big enough to make it hurt when he tried."

Like him and Quin ... and Lil. Honestly? He'd have fought Quin twice before ever tangling once with his sister. She hit three times as hard and was four times meaner.

"Ah." Bastien grabbed food and water. "So what's the plan now?"

"Pull back. Keep them after me and away from my family until reinforcements arrive." He pinned Bastien with a hard stare. "If I die, go out with a major body count."

"My kind of plan." And the kind that used to send Ember into apoplexy. Hence one mission when she'd shot him herself before battle even began to keep him out of the fray.

Not to mention the kind of plan that used to make his mother and sister break out in hives.

Dancer took a few minutes to siphon fuel from the two airbees on board the skimmer and add it to the ones they'd ridden in with.

Bastien hesitated, then realized that he might as well tell Dancer everything about his situation. After all, he had the only safe place for them to stay in the entire desert. There was no need in being selfish with it. "If you need a good defensive place to lead them to, there's an old abandoned base not that far from here where I make my home."

"Bredeh's?"

Bastien furrowed his brow. "You know it?" That stupid question was out before he could stop it. Of course Dancer would know it. Being a part of The Sentella and one of Nyk's friends, he'd probably been in with the run that had bombed it to oblivion.

"Yeah, I do. It's where I sent my family."

Should have known ... And strangely, he had an odd feeling of being violated, knowing that there were strangers with his personal stuff. Not that he had much, but still ... Been a long, long time since he'd shared a place with anyone else or had to worry about someone going through his things.

"Oh. d.a.m.n. Hope they don't find my p.o.r.n."

Dancer arched a brow.

"I'm kidding. I have it all locked up."

Laughing again, Dancer shook his head. "You have been alone far too long."

Bastien sobered. "Yeah, I have. It's good to be around people again."

"Not people, human."

"Not human, either, brother. Lost my humanity a long time ago when I got betrayed into this h.e.l.l of a life." Bastien glanced back to where they'd left the majority of the bodies. "The caves will give us some cover, but trap us in an attack."

"Yeah. We're in the middle of the great Oksanan desert. Not a lot here, period."

"Nothing but buzzards and raiders," Bastien agreed. "Look, I know you don't want to chance leading them to your family. But I'm thinking that we can use the old transmitter at the base to signal your girlfriend's transport back from the city."

Dancer went ramrod stiff at those words. "What do you mean?"

"The blonde who joined you? I couldn't really make out her features, but she came in locally, right?"

Dancer's demeanor turned darker. "You saw her arrive?"

Bastien nodded. "She was dropped off a little ways from your camp a few days ago.... You look like you had no idea."

Dancer didn't comment on that. "What all did you see?"

Bastien shrugged nonchalantly. "It was a small transport. Looked like it came out of one of the distant cities here. Didn't appear s.p.a.ce-worthy. It lacked shielding and..." His voice trailed off as he met Dancer's gaze. "Why are you so p.i.s.sed now?"

His breathing labored, Dancer curled his lip. "Because I think I just handed my kids off to my worst enemy."

CHAPTER 7.

Once they'd returned to Dancer's camp, Bastien hung back with the airbees while Dancer walked toward the woman as if he could kill her. Though he had no idea why Dancer was this upset, given how many days they'd been here. Bastien had a.s.sumed they were long-time friends or family.

Obviously, that a.s.sumption had been wrong. There was something else at play here that he didn't know about. 'Cause that was one seriously p.i.s.sed off Andarion, and he was grateful to G.o.d he wasn't the one who'd enraged him.

Dancer cornered the woman with a feral grimace that would have caused most folks to wet themselves instantly. To the woman's credit, she didn't flinch. She stood toe-to-toe with him.

"What have you done with them?" Dancer demanded in a deep, terrifying growl.

She appeared as confused by his anger as Bastien was. "What? The kids?"

"Darice! Thia!" Dancer shouted.

The moment they came into sight, Dancer ran straight to them and jerked them against his chest as if he'd been terrified for them. He kissed each one on the head before he turned his angry glare back to the woman.

Feeling awkward, Bastien continued to hang back, out of the range of the Andarion's fury. Whatever distemper Dancer suffered from, he wanted no part of it.

"What's going on, Uncle?" the younger blonde woman asked. "Is everything all right?"

The rage on Dancer's face was tangible. "It is now." Dancer released the kids.

As the woman turned to meet his gaze and he finally saw her features clearly and up close, Bastien felt as if he'd been sucker-punched.

d.a.m.n ...

This was some twisted s.h.i.t.

"You two know each other?" Dancer growled.

She shook her head.

That woman might not know him, but Bastien knew that face. He'd seen it well the night he'd taken Fain home after his drunken bender that had almost caused them both to be jailed.

"Omira Hauk?" He scowled at Dancer, trying to understand just what kind of sick, psycho mind game he'd accidentally stumbled into. "What are you doing with your brother's ex-wife?"

The fury that darkened those Andarion eyes made Bastien step back-not out of fear, but so that he would have adequate room to defend himself.

Instead of coming for him, Dancer gathered the boy and girl, and put them on the airbee he'd been riding.

As the young blonde walked past, she cast Bastien a sweet little smile that left him a lot harder than he was comfortable with, considering their obvious age difference. While she was legal, it was ethically questionable.

But then, given how long he'd been without a woman, it didn't take much to "pique" his interest.

Still, she had a nice a.s.s. Sweet face that was balanced with just the right amount of trouble-making seductress to lure any man, young or old, who had a taste for female companionship.

d.a.m.n, he felt bad for her daddy ...

Suddenly Bastien realized that he was eyeballing a member of Dancer's family, and if he didn't stop, he'd be gutted.

Or de-nutted.

Dancer locked gazes with Bastien. "Get them to your base. And you better not betray me."

Offended that he'd even suggest it, Bastien glowered at him. "I would never."

"Good. 'Cause that blonde whose a.s.s you're ogling happens to be the most precious and beloved daughter of Nemesis. And he has only one rule for dating her ... don't."

The color washed straight out of Bastien's face at the mention of one of the most notorious a.s.sa.s.sins ever born. The one lethal being who made League a.s.sa.s.sins wet themselves. "Your father's Nemesis?" he asked the young woman.

She sighed heavily. "On a good day, yes. On bad ones ... let's just say you never want to be on the same planet with him. That includes me and he adores me."

Bastien returned his attention to Dancer. "Nothing, and I mean noth-thing, will happen to them."

"Good. Because if his daughter so much as stubs her toe on your watch, he will hunt you to the end of time, even if he has to come back from h.e.l.l to do it."