Shattered Earth by Schwartz Jenny

Author:Schwartz, Jenny [Schwartz, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal
Amazon: B076PW4S19
Goodreads: 36476307
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Published: 2017-11-20T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The crew ate quickly and separated. They needed to process what they’d seen in the mine. Some would hit the gym, others would compose messages to partners and family back on Corsairs, and Belinda would lose herself in an engineering project Clarke would have ready for her.

Kohia sat with Nairo and Sean at the table in the recreation cabin and planned their next move.

Sean had information for her. While the incursion team had been going through decontamination, he’d identified two thirds of the prisoners. “Half of them lied about their names.”

From studying the information he’d found on them, the reason was clear: the prisoners’ true identities were unlikely to incline anyone to help them.

“They’re all human, Freel and Sidhe criminals.” Kohia read the list of crimes for which they’d been imprisoned. She even recognized a couple of names, although their monikers were more familiar. “Butcher Verron. He was the whisperer, the one who informed me that a ship was due.”

“He was a clever guy in his day, and an evil bastard,” Sean said.

Kohia glanced at Nairo. He wasn’t studying the screen. “You’re not surprised?”

“Sean already shared the information with me, and with Clarke. We’ve spoken about what it means.”

Kohia included Sean in her scowl. “Enlighten me. Sorry.” She put a hand on Nairo’s knee. He sat beside her. “I’m upset, but not with you. We came all this way to close down the prison camp and rescue these guys, only to learn that if I’d known who they were, I’d have shot most of them on principle. We could still—”

“Kohia,” Nairo began.

“This one.” She stabbed at a face onscreen with its prison-photo profile. “What he did to those children on Station Ensign, he deserves the flames of an eternal hell.”

“Yes, he does,” Nairo agreed. “But there are innocent men in the mine.”

She got up, trying to walk off her fury; at least sufficiently that she could think through the blinding red haze. “If you mean the guards, you’re wrong.”

“He means Rajiv Henderson,” Sean said. “The environmental activist from humanity’s fourth planet, Gemini. The planet’s largest corporation had a contract to build housing on its rainforest islands.”

She hurried back to the table to lean over the screen. “That was him? He saved thousands of people, and the habitat on the islands. The area was geologically unstable, a fact the government of the nation that claimed the islands concealed from the public. Rajiv uncovered corruption and…oh no.” She sat and swung her legs over the bench seat, sliding in beside Nairo. “He went missing.”

“And turned up in a death camp,” Sean concluded. “That’s not coincidence. My guess is that someone paid to have him not just vanish, nor simply die, but to suffer first. Rajiv’s dedication to the cause and the activist group he created exposed the corporation on Gemini to a level of scrutiny they couldn’t survive. Three of their executives went to jail. The chairman escaped the planet.”

“Presumably with enough wealth stashed away that he could afford revenge,” Kohia growled.

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