Page 78 of Enthraller

Into an abyss.

Wake up!

The nanos were shouting at her.

Wren didn’t think they’d ever done that before.

It wasn’t a direct hit last time, they replied, calmer now that she was answering.

Ouch, she said.

There was a moment of stillness.Very ouch, they said.We did not have time to form a shield.

Ed?she asked.

Still unconscious, they told her.Lying behind you.

She rolled a little, bumped into his back.

The warmth of his body against hers calmed her. She could hear him breathing, now that she was listening.

Her hands were restrained behind her, but not too tightly. Her feet were shackled, too. She guessed Ed was trussed up the same way.

We can unlock the restraints, her nanos said.We can dissipate out of this room, but the freighter was already in nearspace when we came back to ourselves. We can only dissipate within this freighter.

Leave the restraints on for now, she told them. There was no value in showing her hand too early.

Voices rose from the next room, and she focused her attention there. She could feel a slight tremor beneath the floor she was lying on, a clear indication they were flying, just as her nanos said.

“Bartam will be hunting us soon, if she isn’t already.” The man who spoke was close by, and Wren guessed he was standing on the bridge.

She turned her head, but there was no way to see beyond the narrow room she and Ed had been tossed into.

“We’re blown now. We insisted on being the two who came to arrest you. The fact that we haven’t checked in, that the freighter is missing, and that Zeneri and Thorakis are not responding, means Bartam will know she’s got a problem.” The second man who spoke sounded vaguely familiar, and Wren wondered if she’d been introduced to him when she’d come in to headquarters for her interview with Ethan Hyt.

“Ididn’t call you in, so don’t get up in my face.” Wren recognized Evette Linao’s voice immediately. “I’m not saying I’m not grateful that I’m not going to jail, but it wasn’t my call to blow your cover.”

“Who do you know at the top, that you always get special treatment?” the first man asked.

“Who says I know anyone at the top?” Linao asked.

“Everyone. Because you miraculously survive time and again, no matter what you say or do.” The second man’s clothing rustled, as if he was pacing.

“I can fly the Razors,” Linao said. “And that’s the answer to all your questions. We are down to two pilots left from the original number and only one Razor between us. They can’t afford to throw me away right now. That would leave them without a spare pilot. Why do you think I’ve been parked looking after a warehouse on Demeter for the last six months?”

“And if they train up a new pilot?” The first man asked.

“Then I’m expendable,” Linao answered.

Something about the way she said it made Wren sure she was lying. If her guess from before was accurate, Evette Linaowassomeone at the top. Rubbing shoulders with the lower rungs, either because she liked it, or because she wanted to keep an eye on them.

“If you were going to leave Pontia behind, why leave him alive? He talked, from what I hear.” The second man sounded close, like he was leaning against the wall close to the door.

Interesting, Wren thought. The news hadn’t gotten out that Pontia was dead.

“Pontia wasn’t fast enough.” Linao’s contempt was clear. “If I hadn’t left him, I’d have been caught, too. He’s been ill since Fjern, and he’s only gotten worse in the last few weeks. And as it happens, I thought I had killed him. I was in too much of a hurry to double-check.”

“I heard Bartam’s freaked out over what he said about Fjern,” the first man said. “About the idea of another VSC planet.”

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