Ethan walked back to Operations with Becca his fingers laced through hers. On the threshold, he stopped and pulled her close, memorizing every line of her face. He slid his hand around the back of her neck and drew her against him for one last kiss. Her body melted into his and she ran her hands up his forearms, firing a direct line of heat to his still aching cock. Damn if he wasn’t already regretting his decision. He buried his face in the sweetness of her neck and growled. The sooner he got her home and into his bed the better.

In response, her hand slid down his stomach and grasped his erection.

He inhaled a shaky breath, composing himself. “Later. I promise.”

“Yes.” Becca broke away from him but turned just before she left the corridor. She beamed over her shoulder at him and his heart soared. It was her first genuine smile he’d seen since his team arrived.

And it was for him.

He drank her in. Practical blue cargo pants hugged her ass and a long-sleeved marled t-shirt showcased every curve. Nearly losing her in the docking bay had blown away any residual doubts. He’d tried to walk away, but fate had thrown them back together and it felt right.

Whatever else got happened, Ethan was going to keep her safe.

He rotated his shoulders, steeling himself for what was to come. As he stepped into Operations, he spotted Em on the far side of the room, curled up on an uncomfortable looking metal chair, her cheek resting on her knee. Becca was already heading in her direction. Em looked washed out, but when Becca touched her arm, she straightened, a smile softening the worry etched on her face.

Luca and Nik were assembling a stockpile of equipment near the center of the room. Luca was sorting through the oxygen tanks and rebreathers with a sulky expression while Nik shrugged into a rebreather harness and made adjustments to the fit.

Cade and Finn were missing. Deep voices rumbled from the small kitchenette off the main Operations suite. Ethan found Cade sipping coffee, his fingers wrapped around a mug that proclaimed: ‘Doctor fueled by caffeine.’ Finn was hunched over his tablet, fingers flying across the keyboard. He looked up when Ethan entered.

“Not helping with the checklist?” Ethan asked.

Cade shook his head. “Luca’s doing my head in. Don’t they screen for pessimism when they assign team members?”

Ethan forced a grim smile. In the main room, Luca was complaining loudly, but Nik’s face was impassive as he methodically worked through the equipment. It took a lot more than Luca to derail Nik.

Cade followed his line of sight and laughed. “Nik’s made of sterner stuff than me.”

Ethan sat down beside Finn. His tablet was connected to the Lady’s cyber-systems, the screen scrolling in a fast-moving waterfall of numbers and symbols that were double Dutch to Ethan. “What’s the situation with the Lady?”

Finn straightened. “We can’t open the door to the docking bay without risking complete habitat implosion and killing ourselves.”

Cade shook his head. “So eloquent with words, Finn.”

Finn ignored the heckle. “I’m prepping her remotely.”

Ethan bobbed his head in agreement, and Finn continued. “I can get her up and running so as soon as we board her, we can leave almost immediately.”

Cade scrubbed the top of his head. “Still leaves the problem of actually getting to her.”

Ethan drummed his fingers on the chipped tabletop, his mind racing through possible solutions. None of them were simple. “We need to check out the schematics of the habitat. I think better when I can see things in front of me.”

“I can help you with that.” Em was standing clutching the kitchenette doorframe, Becca at her side.

Ethan shot her a glance. “Dr. Vincent?”

Em wobbled slightly, but then she squared her shoulders and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She sniffed loudly. “Let me show you.”

“But first.” Becca pointed at the ceiling.

Ethan raised his eyes. Of course.

Aimee.

It took Em ten minutes to disable Aimee’s auditory circuits. She scooted out from under one of the control panels and wiped her hands on her thighs.

“We’ve got maybe an hour. Aimee’s bio-circuitry can self repair and will grow new connections. She’s already on the job, so let’s make the most of our time without her eavesdropping.”

Luca shook his head. “Man, this is fucked up. If we don’t even trust the AI that’s meant—”

Ethan bit down on a surge of anger. “Luca, shut the fuck up.”

Luca’s eyes narrowed but he fell silent bar his foot tapping.

Em keyed in a sequence that initiated the holo-map on Operations’ central desk.

Ethan took Becca’s hand as they all assembled around the map. Her slender fingers linked with his, grounding him.

“Here we go.” Em looked up from the access pad. A blue-white pixel coalesced above the desk top, blinked once, then exploded, a tracery of lines reaching out in a multitude of directions, detailing the 3D map of the entire habitat in less than a minute. It hovered in front of them, an elegant shimmering map of their prison. Ethan took a breath. The way home was here somewhere.

Em spun the map with a deft flick of fingers, pointing to their current location and the flooded docking bay, which was a solid mass of blue, reflecting the invading ocean. “Here’s the docking bay,” Em explained. “And the connecting hot tunnel, which is also flooded.” She chewed her lip as she pointed to the blocked route. “Internal doors are sealed here, and as Finn said, can’t be opened without compromising the habitat.”

“But here, running below the hot tunnel is the original maintenance passageway. These were built into all the older Mark II habitats, providing an efficient way of accessing sections during construction and attachment to the seabed. It runs parallel to the hot tunnel and has maintenance entrance points here and here.”

The distance between Em’s fingers looked small, but in reality, that was a fifteen-minute crawl down a fucking narrow tube. Shit.

Luca leaned into the holo-map from his perch on the edge of the desk, his leg swinging wildly. “Looks fucking dangerous.”

Ethan glared at him. “If you have any better suggestions, Luca, I’m all ears.”

Luca slid off the desk and folded his arms. “Whatever.”

Ethan waited till he was sure Luca was going to remain silent. He turned his attention back to Em. “Dr. Vincent, Go on.”

Em nodded and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We can enter here in Operations, seal the hatch behind us and move along under the hot tunnel. When we’re directly under the flooded docking bay, we can open the hatch and enter. The access tunnel is narrow and with the entrance hatch locked at this end, it’s a manageable space that can be safely flooded. Then we swim across the docking bay to the Gray Lady. We enter using the Lady’s emergency airlock, but that’s restricted to two at a time. It’ll take a bit longer, but it’s doable.”

Nik’s serious features merged into one of his rare smiles as he considered Em’s outlined plan. “Hot damn, Ethan. She’s right. It might just work.”