Page 96 of Enthraller

She gave a nod and pointed them back on their extreme descent.

“Hold your position.”

Ed looked across at Wren as the order was barked through the comms. She shook her head, and he nodded in agreement.

“No.”

What were these people going to do? Shoot anyway? So far, they’d kept Evette Linao alive. He didn’t think they were going to stop now.

“You happy we risk this?” he asked.

“Oh, yes.” Wren kept their descent steep and fast. “We stop and let them board, we’re either dead or you’re scanning for weapons and I’m walking around with a laz to my throat to make you cooperate. No thanks.”

There was no hail from the hover port as they came into Aponi nearspace, and Ed could see a pillar of smoke coming from the city in the last light of the day.

Demeter lay sprawled out on the peninsula, the sea on three sides dark gray and choppy. The mountains and forests to the north looked cool and green, but the columns of black and brown smoke said all was not as well as it should be.

Wren saw the smoke, too, and he heard her swear softly under her breath.

“This is actually happening.” She glanced at him. “They’ve taken the comms, and maybe the hover port.” She looked down at the instruments. “I can’t tell whether it’s safe or not to land.”

“I’m guessing the military base will still be secure, even if the comms are down. Try land there.” Although Ed was worried someone with an itchy finger might just shoot them as they came in.

Wren adjusted the trajectory a little and the smaller launch pads of the military base came in to view, lights shining bright in the growing darkness. Smoke from the city drifted across the landing field and was reflected in the spotlights, turning the air hazy.

As they dropped down, Ed saw a unit of soldiers running out, armed with the big, cannon-like laz the military used to down spaceships.

He saw a few lifted onto shoulders, but no one shot them. Yet.

Wren landed and began shutting the engines off.

“I’ll get Linao and go out there, calm them down while you power down,” he said. He unclipped their prisoner from the table, and secured the restraints behind her back, taking her to the door and opening it.

He stood beside her, hand raised. “I’m Ed Zeneri from Demeter Special Forces,” he called out.

A soldier motioned him with a hand to come, and so he pulled a struggling Evette Linao out onto the small bridge thathad extended from the bay platform. The soldiers were waiting in a line, laz raised at the freighter.

“My partner is in there, shutting down,” he said. “Wren Thorakis.”

He recognized the captain in charge of the unit immediately. It was Captain Darnell, the head of the unit that had helped them search the freighters in the customs queue when they were up on the obs station.

“Darnell,” he said, giving a brief salute.

“Zeneri. It’s never boring with you.” Darnell returned the motion. “Wren Thorakis can fly?”

“Lucky for us, or we’d still be on the run from our kidnappers on Ytla.” He pushed Linao forward. “Whatever’s just happened down here to cut off your comms, this woman’s part of the group behind it.”

“Is that so?” Darnell studied Linao carefully. “I’ll accept your prisoner as payment for using our port, Zeneri.”

Ed shrugged. “We didn’t know if the hover port had been taken or not.”

“They tried and failed,” Darnell said, glancing over at Linao. “But they managed to do some damage. And the Gate’s top floors are more or less destroyed.”

That was better than Ed had guessed when he’d seen the smoke from the city center.

He turned back to look at the ship. The engine was off now, so he couldn’t understand what was taking Wren so long.

He took a step toward it, and with a breath-crushing sizzle, a laz strike from high above hit the freighter. It exploded, throwing everyone in near proximity to the ground.

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