She didn’t know why, but the way he’d done that touched her. As if it was an automatic habit he didn’t even think twice about.

Whereas most people would have walked right past the man without a second glance, Hadrian, who was running for his life, had taken a few seconds to care for someone else.

That was so effing rare.

And it shouldn’t be. It said a lot about him.

He opened the door, then looked back to wait for her and scan the street. “Shouldn’t you be moving like your life is at stake?”

Ignoring his dig at the hell she’d given him earlier, Jayne glanced about nervously. “Are they after us?”

“Not yet.”

She ducked inside the filthy hangar that was infested with vermin. Cringing, she kicked an oversized rat out of her way.

There wasn’t a single vessel here that appeared space worthy. Everything around them was rusted out junk that she wouldn’t even use for spare parts.

“Please tell me this is a joke.”

An irritating grin curved his lips as he headed toward a particularly nasty looking craft. “What? You turning craven?”

Her stomach sank. “I’m not getting into that.”

He tsked . . .

And walked past it.

With an infectious laugh, he headed for a door that held a hand-scanner. She watched as he placed his hand on the pad and it unlocked the door that slid open to reveal his fighter.

Relief poured over her as she saw a modest, but safe and clean alternative docked inside.

“You’re such an asshole.”

The humor died on his face as he staggered.

“Hadrian?”

He covered his eye with his hand. “I won’t last much longer.” Hissing, he made his way to the fighter and unlocked it. His breathing heavy, he helped her up the ladder, then climbed in behind her.

“Here.” He handed her the lock-key drive.

Jayne plugged it in while he strapped in behind her.

Reaching around her seat, Hadrian entered the launch code and fired the engines. “Can you fly this?”

She took a second to go over the controls. They were different from her ship, but basically the same. Everything was set up backwards from her ship. Otherwise, it was fairly standard. Controls were controls. “Yes.”

“Good.” He barely spoke that word before he fell unconscious against her seat.

And not just a little bit. He was out in a way that was actually scary.

Wow. Closing the canopy, Jayne put his headset on and prepared the launch. The good and bad thing about where he was docked was that there was no controller. No one to grant any permissions or stop her from leaving. No records being kept about who came and went. But that meant that she had to watch for any and all traffic on her own, and she had no idea how fast this ship was.

In fact, she had never even seen one like it.

Biting her lip, she hesitated. Given that Hadrian was hiding and hunted, it would most likely be fast.