Tansy might cry as she did it, but she’d shoot an attacker dead all the same. And she’d definitely help Kaia bury bodies if required.

Bo liked her.

“I’ll put on protective gear,” she said now, “and start cleaning up this mess.”

“I’ll help.”

Tansy shook her head at Dr. Kahananui. “I’ll only worry about the baby if you do. Let me handle it—and here come Bettina, Piri, and Kianmei. You know they’ll pitch in.”

The door opened again before the doctor could answer, Dex rushing in. Only once in his arms did Dr. Kahananui allow herself to release a shaky breath and surrender to someone else’s strength.

Deciding the lab was safe enough at present—whoever had done this had wanted to damage things, not people, plus Dex had a vicious look in his eye that said he’d butcher anyone who came near his mate and her friend—Bo led Kaia outside, then over the bridge into habitat four.

She stayed unusually quiet throughout. Hex had scrambled up to her shoulder in the lab and now rubbed his nose against the side of her neck, as if sensing her turbulent emotions.

Bo couldn’t help it. He lifted her hand to his mouth, pressed a kiss on her soft skin. “I know it’s bad,” he said. “But your cousin’s tough and determined and now that she’s past the first shock, Tansy’s looking to how they can salvage the experiment.”

“It’s not actually the destruction that’s the worst thing.” Kaia closed her fingers around his own. “Attie and Tansy are too focused on the work to see it, but they will. It’ll make the whole situation a million times worse.”

“You—and they—must know the person who did it.” It was the only possible scenario, taking into account Ryūjin’s isolation and the security features of the lab.

“Yes.” Kaia’s voice shook. “We are who we are because we are one. We are BlackSea.”

Bo’s cold rage grew even colder at her distress. “We’ll find the culprit. I bet he or she has no idea Ryūjin has a surveillance system.”

The security station was located in an unassuming little room that said Maintenance on the door.

Kaia narrowed her eyes at the sign. “Why is Mal hiding the security station from us?”

“For exactly this reason.” Bo took a quick glance around to make sure they weren’t being observed before he opened the door and ushered Kaia in, then followed. “If no one knows it exists,” he said, shutting them inside what seemed to be a fairly standard maintenance room, with brooms, repair kits, and other supplies stacked up neatly on metal shelves, “no one can come erase or compromise the data.”

“I assume that data isn’t stored in a broom.”

Grinning at the arch question, Bo used a screwdriver from a maintenance kit to unscrew a specific panel on the floor. A small keypad glowed up at him, the light a thick, hazy green that wouldn’t penetrate the panel.

He input the override code Malachai had given him and, when prompted, a second code that confirmed his authorization to enter. That done, he closed the panel back up so it appeared to be just another part of the floor. One of the walls unlatched five seconds later, complete with the shelving unit attached to it.

A small tug and the space was wide enough for Bowen to slip through, Kaia at his back. She gasped at the tech within, all of it humming and bright with lights. “Who in Ryūjin runs this? Is everyone keeping secrets?” A furious whisper. “We’re meant to be a family!”

“Entire thing is autonomous,” Bo told his fiery siren. “It’s only here in case of an emergency—like if one of you lost your mind and committed a murder. The person who came in to investigate would have a starting point.”

Kaia’s glower didn’t appreciably decrease. “Security chiefs have suspicious minds.”

“Hazard of the job.” He found the log he needed. “Here we go—today’s list of entries into the lab.” Entry was via a retinal scan paired to a palm print, with the resulting scan cross-referenced to an individual on Ryūjin. Each of those individuals was represented by a four-digit ID number rather than their name. Pretty standard for a backend system like this.

Skimming the list, he pointed to the screen. “See that entry that’s the fifth from the end? That should coincide with Dr. Kahananui’s personnel number.” Four others had entered after them and each of the scientists had come in alone, the door closing at their backs before anyone else could slip in. To enter, every one of them would’ve needed to place their palms on the scanpad and pass the retinal scan.

Last had been Dex, who, as station supervisor, must have an override to every room on Ryūjin—including this one. The station commander had to know the security station was here; Malachai wouldn’t be doing his job if he kept Dex in the dark. Which likely meant Seraphina also knew.

Bo decided not to mention that to Kaia right then. He’d wait until her blood wasn’t so hot and she could accept that Sera’s position on Ryūjin meant she had to keep certain things confidential, even from her closest friends.

“Yes, that’s Attie’s Ryūjin ID number,” Kaia said now. “3333, hard number to forget.” A frown in her voice when she added, “But we went in with her and the system has no way of tracking that.”

“I don’t think that’ll matter with our saboteur—one traitor I can accept, but a pair working in concert pushes things.” After printing out the list, he pulled up the master list of personnel ID numbers and put a name next to each entry.

Dex’s, appropriately enough, was 1111.

“There’s Tansy five hours ago,” Kaia murmured. “She usually takes a quick ten-minute peek each morning at how things are progressing before heading over to the growing bins. That’s her entering again just before she called Atalina.”

There were only three entries after Tansy’s morning inspection and before her recent reentry. “Anyone who doesn’t belong?” he asked Kaia.

“I don’t know what George was doing there—he’s not involved in that study. He must’ve been looking for Atalina or Tansy. The other two are the most senior scientists on the station. Atalina’s their protégée and they’re like proud papas. They’d never harm her work.”

Bo didn’t have as much faith in human nature, but what he did have was evidence. “Those two also entered and exited within seconds of one another. And they would’ve noticed the damage if it had been there when they arrived.” Which left only one possibility. “We need to talk to George.”

Chapter 49

Demons, monsters, nightmares.

Three dread horsemen of the abyss.

—Adina Mercant, poet (b. 1832, d. 1901)

“GEORGE?” KAIA SHOOK her head. “No, he wouldn’t do that to us.”

Us. Family. Ohana.

“It’s possible someone slipped in behind him and managed to stay concealed until after he left,” Bo said, though that was stretching the realm of possibility. The lab was open-plan, with no useful pools of shadow.

“Do you have any idea where he is now?” Bo was already scanning the security system in case it held the answer to his question, but the surveillance cameras only covered a limited number of critical areas. Likely because the station was home to hundreds of people and Malachai hadn’t wanted to spy on them.

There was a fine line between protection and autocratic control.

Arms folded, Kaia said, “If it was George and he’s decided to destroy Attie’s research work, then the next step would be her personal lab.”

They left the security station with the same stealth they’d used to enter it, and made their way quickly to Dr. Kahananui’s laboratory. The door had locked automatically when they left, and Kaia scanned them in. “Who has access to this lab?” Bo asked.

“Other than Dex and Sera—Atalina, George, Tansy, and me.” Kaia glanced around the lab. “I have entry privileges because Attie forgets to eat. Makes it easier if I can just walk in with a tray for her.”

Bo took in the scene.

Nothing had been smashed up, nothing destroyed.

Going to the back of the lab, Kaia placed her palm against a scanpad. “It runs on the same security protocol as the door,” she explained.

Which meant the same people had access.

The scanpad went green, was followed by a small snick of sound. Bending, Kaia opened the door to the medical cooler in which Bo assumed Dr. Kahananui kept samples or chemicals.

“It’s all gone.” Kaia shut the door on those oddly toneless words.

“What?”

She strode to the computer instead of answering. “I have access,” she muttered. “Attie wanted me to be able to get her any data she needed if she was put on bedrest for the last part of her pregnancy. In-station connections can get iffy at times.”

“Why not ask George?”

“Even Attie isn’t pragmatic enough to want any man but Dex in her bedroom while she’s in her pj’s.”

The screen cleared and Kaia began to work.

The blood drained from her face moments later. “The data’s been erased.” Fisted hands, white lines bracketing her mouth. “We have to fix this.”

“She’ll have backups,” Bo reminded her. “Mal told me about the weekly manual backups. Dr. Kahananui will only have lost a few days’ worth of data.”

“George was the one in charge of the manual backups.” Gritting her teeth, she drew in a short, hard breath. “He could’ve filled the data packets with anything he wanted. No one upside would have any idea. They don’t look at the information—they just check to make sure it hasn’t been corrupted.”

Shit.

“How long has George been working for Dr. Kahananui?”

“Three years. Attie trusted him with everything. She had no reason not to trust him.”

Right now, Bo didn’t care about George’s motives. “He can’t have gotten far.” Not with data crystals and whatever he’d taken from the cooler—and Bo had a bad feeling about exactly what the other man had stolen. “He took the compound?”