Heart of the Spider's Web

<p>Sheri Tyler had a simple undercover assignment: work the docks at Nobu Station monitor the illegal trade and report everything back to Intelligence Command. Now a botched robbery has forced her to hide among a crew of smugglers and put her on the run from the Spider Queen one of the TriSystem's most dangerous crime lords. Worse it's left her working alongside a brooding security officer who reminds her of everything she shouldn't desire.</p><p>Rayan Barr only wants three things: keeping his ship secure his friends safe and his pet goanna well-fed.  None of those include overseeing a dockrat whose stories don't add up and who has a mad idea to sell their illegal cargo in one of the largest black markets in the Three Systems. Now his captain has demanded he keep a close watch on her something his eyes are already all too eager to do.</p><p>Forced to rely on each other Rayan and Sheri get pulled deeper into the Spider Queen's web of deceit. And while Sherri might let Barr get a glimpse of the real her she'd kept hidden away she also knows it's only a matter of time before the lies she hides behind come crashing down. Without that protection there's no telling how badly they'll both get hurt.</p><p> </p><p>NOTE: This story was originally published in<em> Pets in Space 4</em> and incorporates the prequel short story <em>Bodyguard of Lies</em> from the 2019 Pets in Space teaser</p>