Free 3013: Targeted by Susan Hayes

inclined her head toward the kitchen. “I should go check up on things. Will you be here for a while yet?”
    Brandt glanced down at his drink and decided he’d done enough work for today. “I’m here until I reach the bottom of this glass. If you can slip away again, I’d enjoy the company.”
    “Then I will be back shortly,” T’karra said. There might not be any more information for them to share regarding the investigation, but she wanted to enjoy his company a little longer. These meetings were one of the highlights of her day.
     
    * * * *
     
    Hawke’s frustration was reaching critical levels, affecting his ability to focus. Hell, he’d stopped being able to even sit still two hours ago, which was why he was currently jogging the length and breadth of the station in the middle of the fucking night. They’d been at this for a week now, and they still didn’t have the answers they needed. Between the investigation, reorganizing the station, and T’karra’s ongoing mission to completely freeze him out of her life, running himself to the brink of exhaustion was the only way he was going to get any sleep tonight.
    The majority of the station’s population was asleep already, the corridors near silent except for the hum of machinery and the steady beat of his own footsteps. The silence was soothing, and as he completed his second lap of the station, Hawke was finally able to think clearly again. A new report had arrived a few hours ago, and it had not been good news. The two mercenaries who had survived the attack on the Black Hole had finally recovered sufficiently to be questioned by one of the Alliance’s interrogation teams. Unfortunately, the mercs didn’t know much more than they’d already confessed to.
    They operated out of the Shaula colonies, but they hadn’t been home in several months. The mercenaries got their assignments via their commander, who was the only one to have direct contact with the next level of authority. The commander’s throat had been ripped out by Verak Ryvern, so he was no longer available for questioning. So far the Burrows-Grekov family, the ones who had hired the mercenaries to return their missing daughter back to Earth, had used their significant wealth and influence to avoid undergoing full interrogation. That was about to change. They had answers the Alliance needed, and there wasn’t enough money on the planet to save the formerly powerful trio.
    Hawke lengthened his stride as he reached the end of one of the five docking arms and turned back toward the station’s center again. The two mercenaries had confirmed one thing, though. They’d had inside help. The weapons and armor had been smuggled into the Black Hole earlier, just as they had suspected, and someone had left one of the loading doors open, allowing the mercs to gain entry without being seen.
    Brandt had been having regular meetings with T’karra, keeping her updated on the progress of their investigation, but she wouldn’t speak to Hawke. Being cut out of the beautiful Krytos’ life was bad enough, but having to watch his best friend answer her calls and speak with her every day was pure torture. He could see there was something growing between them day by day, but at the moment, he was still on T’karra’s shit list with no reprieve in sight.
    T’karra had provided them with everything she’d come up with in her own investigation, but so far she was having no luck tracking down the insider who had betrayed the pack. Whoever it was, they’d covered their tracks carefully. That was the only real clue the Krytos had. Their traitor was someone with enough authority they’d been able to erase all traces of what they’d done. It had cut the list down to a handful of suspects, but all of them were well-known and trusted implicitly. Hell, some of them were members of her own family. Hawke knew it had to be causing T’karra and her brothers a great deal of pain, but they were determined to find out