Close Proximity by M. D. Cooper & Chris J. Pike

Author:M. D. Cooper & Chris J. Pike [Cooper, M. D. & Pike, Chris J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 154695404X
Amazon: B06XG2QCL5
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2017-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Kylie relinquished control of the ship to her pilot and felt her stomach twist as the ship dumped into the dark layer with minimal shielding and grav systems on low power. They were safe, they were away, but a piece of Kylie wasn’t. A piece of her was lost with Nadine and whoever her captor was.

“No one came in after us—that I can see with this ship’s scan,” Grayson said.

“We’ll get company real fast once the Black Crow figures out what we did,” Winter said. “Not a lot of places we could have gone, or where we can come out.”

Kylie swallowed hard. <The truth is, gentlemen, every pirate and smuggler that works for the GFF, every freelancer out there, they’re all going to be looking for us.>

“When this is over, the SSF can help clear your name,” Grayson said.

Kylie laughed bitterly. <Like that’s ever going to happen. GFF would never believe someone like you. They only believe what Maverick and Harken tell them. Even if Maverick is alive…or lives…he may not clear our name.> Kylie didn’t think he would go to bat for her. It was probable that he’d throw her under the bus, just to get his jollies off. Just to punish her for her betrayal.

“What happened with Maverick?” Winter asked.

Kylie shook her head. <I’ve never seen Maverick paranoid like that. I don’t know if it was a mod gone wrong, or he simply just sensed the truth. But he knew we weren’t on the up and up the moment he laid eyes on us.>

Rogers turned to Kylie, though he kept one eye on the forward view, black as ever in the dark layer. It was on all their minds—one stray blob of dark matter and they were done for.

“You need to explain this a lot better than you have. Where’s Nadine? You said a bounty hunter has her?”

Kylie held up a hand. <Let me get this helmet off. I need to take a breath of fresh air.>

The crew nodded silently and waited as she released the seal on the outer stealth layer and peeled it off, throwing it over the back of her chair. She sent the signal for the under-layer to separate from the helmet and felt it unseal.

Here goes, she thought to herself and took as deep a breath as she could with the rebreather in her mouth.

She slid her thumbs under the edge of the helmet and peeled it off her head, gagging, but not puking—thank the stars—as the rebreather came out of her mouth.

The inside of the helmet was soaked with her sweat, and her hair was plastered to her head. She knew she looked like shit, but it felt good to take a deep breath, which she did, followed by several more.

She looked at each of the three men and leaned against her console. “Everything went bad from the start. Maverick was suspicious and had the Dauntless boarded. Just when we got him on our side, this guy entered. Cloaked and armed like a damn mech.

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