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She reached the elevator just as Cortez and his ss cliroup, looking small and frail surrounded by soldiers in armor As the doors slid closed, she smiled at Anna and raised one hand in a wave

Then she was gone

Chapter Forty: Holden

“H

ey, Cap?” Amos said froone past this roo down”

“I know,” Holden said quietly It was obvious that the situation on the Beheh the corridors with hard expressions Soument with her, then taken a patient away in restraints It felt like a coup in progress, but according to Naomi the security chief Bull had already inal Belter captain And nothing had happened that would explain why he’d suddenly need to put a lotarrests

It felt like a civil as brewing, or being squashed

“Should we do so?” Amos asked

Yes, Holden thought We should do soet back to the Rocinante and hide until Miller gets done doing whatever he was doing and releases the ships in the slow zone Then they should burn like hell out of this place and never look back Unfortunately, his creas still laid up and he didn’t exactly have a ride waiting to take him to his ship

“No,” he said instead “Not until we understand what’s happening I just got out of jail Not in a hurry to go back”

Alex sat up in bed, and then moaned at the effort The top of his head athed in bloodstained bandages, and the left side of his face had a e had thrown him face first into one of the cockpit’s viewscreens If he hadn’t been at least partially belted into his chair, he’d probably be dead

“Maybe we should find a quieter place than this to hole up,” he said “They don’t see patients so far”

Holden nodded with his fist He was starting to pick up Naoht hi to be an adult “My ti bay and this room I don’t have any idea where a quieter place would be”

“Well,” Naomi said “That puts you one up on us None of us were conscious when they brought us here”

Holden hopped off the edge of her bed andit as quietly as possible He looked around for so to jam it shut with, but quickly decided it was hopeless The habitation spaces in the Beheht, not durability The walls and door of the hospital rooood kick would probably bring the entire structure down Barricading the door would only signal patrols that so, and then delay them half a second while they broke it

“Maybe that preacher can help us,” Alex said

“Yeah” Aood people”

“No hitting on the preacher,” Holden said, pointing at Aer

“I just—”

“But it doesn’t matter, because if she has even half a brain—and I suspect she has a lotherself And she’s not from here We need an insider”