Heretics (Stars Edge: Nel Bently Book 4) by V. S. Holmes

Author:V. S. Holmes [Holmes, V. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amphibian Press
Published: 2021-05-07T22:00:00+00:00

TEN

As much as she detested the weight of a murderous glove in her hand, Nel might actually hate lagging back more. Even with the muffle of noise-canceling headphones, the ping of the scanner in Teera’s hand sent twitches of annoyance through her jaw.

“Hey,” Nel whispered to the man next to her.

His eyes flicked up, but otherwise he didn’t acknowledge her beyond his eyes flicking in her direction.

“I’m Nel.”

“Kestral. And I’m at work.”

Shame burned her face. “Sorry. Just making sure I know which names to shout when this whole mission implodes.”

His face tightened. “Not funny—I was in Emissary School with Kapten Orso.”

For a moment her brain blanked, then the last name swam to view in her mind’s eye, attached to a sandblasted space suit and a face atrophied into pain. She winced. “I’m sorry—hell of a loss. I was part of that project.”

“I know who you are,” he bit out, before stalking across the alley and leaning against the other granite wall.

Nel stared after him, anger crashing through her skull. Well you weren’t fucking there, you don’t know! She bit back all the other, less polite things she honestly wanted to say but felt her nostrils flare. She settled for glaring at the shell of the building in sullen silence.

It was a small building, narrow, and built with durability in mind. Except, of course, for the hole blown in the side. Rubble piled in the street, huge stone blocks scattered like a forgotten Jenga game. Nel peered at the pitted, blackened scars across those farthest from what remained of the wall.

“Burns?” The blast marks on the wall where they had fitted everyone for gloves told her, whatever this technology was, it wasn’t typical of IDH. “So, what happened here?”

“If we had that answer we wouldn’t be here,” Kestral sneered.

She opened her mouth to bitch back but caught herself. She didn’t need to be liked. She didn’t need to like them either. Ignoring the man, she moved closer to the hole. Already, the explosives experts were marking each stone scarred with a data point, virtually piecing the wall back together on their tablets. Inside, the unlit room was a maw.

Narrow grated stairs led up one wall and down to where the blast must have originated. If there had been any tech, it was either destroyed in the blast or looted later. The map glowing above her wrist displayed two rooms. A glance at the cavernous space showed her they were lucky the original four exterior walls still stood. Let’s hope nothing too structural is damaged.

No sooner did the thought leave her mind than a tech tossed a black cube into the air. A few dozen cables exploded out, fusing gently to the corners and centers of each wall. The tech tapped a few keys on her wrist and the cables solidified into rebar.

“Whoa,” Nel whispered. At least everyone’s headphones hid her naivete.

“Alright, Queenie’s team is gonna take the immediate blast radius here,” Teera called over. The box suspended in the center blinked, projecting a holographic rendering of the layout along with faintly color-coded zones.

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