Outer Bounds: Fortune's Rising by King Sara

Author:King, Sara [King, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-07-05T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Killer

“Do I have everyone’s attention?” a harsh female voice demanded. “I’m only going to say this once.”

The air in the cavern still stung with the acrid taste of ozone, and the eggers stood frozen in petrified silence.

“Good,” the woman said. She was a dim outline in the darkness, the eggers on all sides having backed away from her, leaving her standing alone except for two other women at her back.

“Now listen carefully.” Magali held her breath as the woman swung her gun back toward her end of the group. The woman passed her over, then swung back, keeping the barrel moving at all times. Behind her, her two terrified-looking companions were huddled against the wall. All three looked to be recent draftees… Until Magali saw the Coalition codes tattooed into their arms.

Guards.

Naked guards.

Confused, Magali tried to piece together just what was happening. As nude as they were, it was unlikely the guards had come down here prior to the Harvest. Not smugglers, then. They had to have been in formation with the others when the Director and her ‘friends’ relieved them of their garments.

“Good,” the woman with the gun said. “What’s going to happen is you all are going to go down into the mines, fill up your sacks, and bring some back here for my friends and I. A few from each sack—we’re not greedy. The three of us don’t know jack shit about Shriekers, so it’s best for everyone involved that we don’t go anywhere near them. With me so far?”

No one spoke.

“Good,” the woman said. She pointed into the mines. “We hate to do this to you, but we’re not eggers. We’re citizens. Director thinks she’s gonna teach us some sort of lesson, spending a day down here in the slime, but she’s about as stupid as she is ugly. We were just doing what everybody does. Bullshitting. Passing the time. Playing cards. Maybe screwing, if it was an off-day. How the hell were we supposed to know he was Runaway Joel?”

Oh crap, Magali thought, glancing at Joel. “Joel,” she whispered, “get your head down.”

Joel merely blinked at her.

“Down,” Magali urged. She pointed at the woman with the gun and tugged his wrist downward. Joel reluctantly sank into a hunched crouch.

“Speaking of Joel,” the woman continued, “I saw him in the formation tonight. The good Director let him out to play, didn’t she? Where is he?” She began searching the gathered eggers with her eyes. “I have something for him.”

“Shit,” Magali muttered. “Don’t move.” She placed a finger to her lips and held it there, for Joel’s benefit.

The guard with the gun waited a few more minutes, then laughed. “Don’t wanna come out for my gift, eh, Joel? How about this. I start shooting until you get your scrawny ass up here.”

Magali glanced down at the smuggler, who was looking up at her, obviously close to panic. Magali knew what was going through his head. For all he knew, they were going to shoot him.

For all Magali knew, he was right.

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