I'd left at sunrise, but I made sure I'd be followed. The note read "Hangar 033", and it lay where my head had been the night before, right beside Navaria.

As I worked on the Layla, my mind raced ahead of me, perpetuating the beginnings of a crime. I was about to perform a kidnapping, and in doing so, I'd be a man on the run. It wasn't a situation new to me, except this crime was for all the right reasons.

MARCUS modules moved through the interior of the ship rapidly, vacuming away various debris from the floor and other areas of my ship. I stowed away the larger items, and put away work-weary tools in the compartments where they belonged.

I had no way to be sure if my victim would come along willingly. I was willing to use coercion, though. It was an offer she couldn't refuse. It was an offer we'd both refused for too long.