The Fringe Wars

2.3

Scatter Plot

Throttle scrunched her nose. "I don't like Devil Town. It's full of criminals."

"Which is why we'll fit right in," Sixx said.

She frowned. "You act like it's no big deal. You've had a price on your head since you were fourteen. It's still relatively new to me."

He shot the pilot a toothy grin. "Trust me. Guys love a dangerous woman."

The petite blonde rolled her eyes. "Anyone ever tell you you're hopeless?"

"Yup," he replied before taking a long drink and then added, "Don't worry. You're staying on the ship with Boden."

"You don't think he'll try to buy sweet soy while we're down there, do you?"

Sixx shrugged. "Once an addict, always an addict."

"Hm. Some could say the same about you with women," she countered.

"It's different. I enjoy the company of beautiful women to remember. Addicts use drugs to forget."

"Oh, so you're a philosopher now, too?"

Reyne ate his dinner, listening to the pair as they bantered, letting the normalcy soothe his nerves. Sixx and Throttle were both more than crew; they were family. He'd found his adopted daughter at the end of the Uprising over twenty years ago. She'd been only a few years old when he came across her at a ravaged farm, lying next to her dead family. Her broken spine would've guaranteed her death within hours or days.

He'd seen too much death—had caused too much death—by the time he found her. He'd grown numb to killing. Yet, her tiny grip had brought him back from the blackness into which his soul had comfortably settled. She'd always believed he'd saved her, but the truth was that she'd saved him that day. And she'd been in his heart and a member of the Gryphon's crew ever since.

Sixx joined his crew nearly ten years ago. Reyne had come across the thief at Sol Base, holding his own against a dozen armed thugs. Reyne had planned to continue along his way, but there'd been something about Sixx's dark gaze that'd brought Reyne right back to the day he'd found Throttle, when he too had been a lost man about to tumble into the abyss.

He later learned that Sixx had lost his wife a few months earlier and had developed reckless and dangerous habits to cope. Reyne, seeing his old self in Sixx, stepped into a matter that didn't concern him. He helped Sixx escape some rich woman's irate husband and his posse, and ended up with a new crew member. He quickly learned that Sixx's masculine features and killer charm made him irresistible to women...and made for all kinds of new and interesting trouble.

"Well, we're torrents, not criminals," Throttle said. "Big difference. One is heroic; the other is vile."

Sixx shrugged. "Both are one and the same to the CUF."

Reyne chimed in. "Keep in mind that we have the two most powerful men in the Collective out to get us. Everyone knows if you want to find people bad enough, put out a big reward on their heads, big enough that even their own mothers will turn them in. Whether we're criminals or not is a moot point."

Sixx chuckled. "Which makes our mission all the more interesting, since of course we're heading straight to a fringe station where there's guaranteed to be patrols around every corner."

Reyne lifted a brow. "Would you prefer we give up and return to Playa?"

"Heck, no. Just thinking of the temperatures at Tulan Base makes my balls freeze."

Throttle winced. "Gross. That's an image that will haunt me forever."

"Spate is definitely warmer," Reyne said.