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“What the hell happened?” Ry demanded.

“She hit some sort of pressure point.” Dare rubbed the side of his neck. It was still sensitive. “I was out in seconds.” He didn’t know whether to be enraged at her or impressed.

Ry grunted. “But you’re okay?”

Dare nodded, his gaze narrowing. His stomach was slowly leveling out. “I want her found.”

“And thrown in the brig, this time.”

They’d see. Dare was formulating a few plans to punish his lovely stowaway.

Ry touched his ear. “Sayer, I need you to check camera feeds and access logs. Find Ms. Jones.”

Dare’s head whipped up. “Jones? You identified her?”

Ry nodded and held out his Sync.

Dare looked at the screen. There was an unflattering ID photo of her, along with her details. “Dakota Jones.”

He remembered her touching his face and telling him her name. He scanned the text, his lips moving upward. She was a scam artist. She’d held a multitude of jobs, mainly as an astro-archeology assistant, but she was currently banned from all Institute of Historical Preservation museums. Hell, it looked like she wasn’t welcome on a few planets at all—including Zeta Volantis and Vega.

He pushed to his feet, and ruthlessly locked down the flare of nausea. “Where did she go? You’ve had your team lock down the escape pods?”

Ry nodded. “No way she can access them now.” He touched his ear. “Hang on, Sayer’s getting back to me. Go ahead.”

Dare waited impatiently. When Ry went as stiff as a board, he knew the news wasn’t good.

His brother’s darker-gray eyes went hard. “We have an unauthorized access of the shuttle bay.”

With a curse, Dare broke into a run, Ry at his side. Together, they sprinted out of his cabin.

“Can you see her on the feeds?” Dare asked.

“No.” Frustration was rife in his brother’s voice. “Sayer said that she’s somehow locked us out of the camera feed.”

Sayer was a genius on the comp, one of Ry’s best tech guys. If Dakota had locked him out, she was damn good.

Dare felt a sudden urge to laugh. Clever girl.

“You shouldn’t look so damn happy about the fact that a thief is about to steal one of our shuttles,” Ry grumbled.

Dare shook his head. “She’s resourceful. And she’s technically not a thief. According to what you showed me, she’s never been convicted.”

“Not like you to let people off on a technicality.”

“Oh, I’m not letting her off.”

They reached the shuttle bay doors. Through the long, adjacent glass window, Dare saw Ry’s security cuttership—the Pathfinder—and the Nomad’s shuttles parked side-by-side. He also saw Dakota Jones working on the door-control panel of the shuttle closest to the bay’s door.

Suddenly, she looked over, and their gazes locked through the glass. Her eyes widened, and she looked back at the panel, her hands speeding up.

“Yeah, you should be afraid,” he murmured. “Ry, get these doors open.”

“Working on it.” His brother had removed the control panel, and was digging around behind it. “She’s done a number on the control system.”

On the other side of the glass, Dakota pumped a fist in the air. The shuttle door opened. She cast him one last glance and then slipped inside.

“Ry, now!”