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"Oh, um, okay." Just how much should I tell her? I decide the sanitized version is best. "My name is Ruthie, and I'm here with my sisters, Ruth and Ruth-Ann."
"Wait. You and your sisters all have the same name?"
"We're triplets," I say as if that explains everything.
She arches a brow at me. "Your mama must have really liked the name."
"You have no idea." Maybe I should have come up with a completely different name so no one realizes I'm a clone, but I suppose it's too late now. "I just go by Ruthie, though. You can tell me apart by the short hair and the piercings. Anyhow, we arrived here on a ship called the Scarlet Gaze..."
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
KAZEX
I don't panic when Ruthie's not in our quarters after I finish my practices with Sakkar and Dopekh. She wanders the ship or hangs out with her sisters when she gets restless. I don't panic when she's not in the rec room, either. My thoughts are full of the coin and the kinds of enticing games we can get into with it. Heads, I kiss her down to her toes. Tails, I start at her toes...
I do panic when I have the ship scan for her bio signals and nothing is found on board. I race down the hall, looking for her, and pause at the rec room when I see someone digging through the couch cushions. It's just Zaemen, though.
"Oh, are you looking for Ruthie?" Zaemen asks, moving to the gambling table and digging through piles of chips and sticks, looking for something. "She's gone. Hey, have you seen my lucky medallion? I can't find it."
"What do you mean, she's gone?"
"I took her down to Port earlier. She said not to tell you and that she'd be back when she was back."
It takes two strides for me to get to Zaemen's side, and then I have him by the collar, hauling him into the air. "You what?"
"You're gonna rip my uniform?—"
"Why the kef did you take Ruthie into Port and leave her alone?"
"Uh, cause she asked me to?"
I drop him immediately. He adjusts his collar, unoffended. Everyone knows I have a hair-trigger temper when it comes to Ruthie. "Why did she ask you to take her to town?"
"I dunno. She had a bag with her, though."
My heart skips a beat. A bag? And she was going into Port? And she didn't say when she'd be back? "Was she upset about something? How did she look? Was she scared?" I fire the questions at him, rapid pace. "How big of a bag was it? Did she bring credits with her? Did someone say something to make her cry?"
"Brother, I don't keffing know." He raises his hands in the air. "I was told to go with her up until she got to town and then come back."
I rake a hand through my hair, agitated. "I can't believe you let her go alone."
"Kaz, she's her own person?—"
I growl, turning on him. "She's my person!"
"Oookay, friend." He gives me a slow, exaggerated pat on my shoulder. "You're going to need to calm down. Ruthie can handle herself?—"
"But she shouldn't have to," I blurt out, and then race from the room. It's no use talking to Zaemen. Not when I could be in town, rescuing Ruthie even as we speak. I head for the armory first, shoving a blaster, two smoke bombs, and a pair of stun-cuffs into my belt. I add a knife since there's still room in my belt, and consider a stun-stick, then discard it in favor of another smoke bomb. I'm not sure what I'll need, but I'll comm for reinforcements if I have to.
One thing is for sure—no one's going to touch a hair on Ruthie's head without answering to me first.
I race out of the room.
A moment later, I race back in, grab the stun-stick, and then race back out again, heading for the docks.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
RUTHIE
I try to show interest in the town's amenities as Bee carries on a very one-sided conversation about Port's tiny, shared library. "We don't have enough books to go around, of course. We're lucky to have any at all! But we do have one local woman who pens stories for the women here. Her name is Kim, and she's just the best storyteller. Once we get you in your room, we'll get you on the comm list and?—"
"Trouble," says Victor, speaking up for the first time.
I look over just in time to see Kazex, bristling with weapons, heading in our direction.
Oh no.
"Ruthie," he calls out, a determined look on his face. He pulls out a baton from his belt and flings it out, and it extends outward, the tip lighting up. "Stay back. I'll save you."
"I'm not in danger," I call out.
Doesn't matter. He has his sights on Victor and approaches him with vicious determination. Victor cracks his knuckles. "Touch me with that stick and you'll regret it, clone."
