Free A Memory in the Black (The New Aeneid Cycle) by Michael G. Munz Page B

I think." He paused. "But, if I'm not—I mean, that is, if—"
    She watched him try to stammer out an adieu a second longer before taking his mouth in a kiss. It was pointless for him to say more, and she didn't want to hear it. Wrapping him in a tight embrace, she drew as much companionship from that kiss as she could.
    She wanted him safe. The death of Alberto, the AoA operative she had sent with the first team to enter the structure, still weighed on her beyond the grief she already held for the rest of them. Yet while Marc's departure would further him from danger, it also meant she would be secretly alone once more. Neither feeling was something she could afford. She needed to remain strong, to stay comfortable working alone for as long as it was required of her. Was that the only reason she cared about Marc?
    Marette picked herself up from the floor. It was time for a break.
    The walk back to her quarters was brief. She slipped off the wrist and ankle weights, removed a silver necklace that was the one piece of jewelry she allowed herself, and was about to strip for a shower when the comms-channel sounded.
    ESA Command.
    She keyed up voice only. "This is Clarion."
    "Chief, something's happened. Have the hackers left yet?"
     
    The Earth waited outside, large and quiet. Elsa kept watch on it as her heels struck harshly on Sunrise Station's concourse floor and took her toward the gate where her shuttle waited. She was returning to Earth, on the last leg of the journey planetside, and hardly too soon.
    Though they had not yet managed a second hack on Alpha Station, and though they had zero answers, she 'd snatched the chance to leave the moment it was offered. The ESA witch didn't want them anymore once they refused to be used, and Elsa had no wish to stay.
    Elsa was certain they thought to be rid of her and the rest by sending them off with that bonus of hush money that they tried to call "hazard pay." If ESA thought it was over, they were wrong. She would make certain of that. ESA was cowardly—cowardly in lying to lure her and the others to their deaths, cowardly about sending them away without an explanation. She would see them pay.
    She' d not known Suzanne Namura before a few days ago, and in that time they hadn't spoken in a non-professional capacity. But the ease with which ESA had used her life was offensive. It was infuriating! And had it gone differently, it might have been Elsa lying dead on the table. Bastards! Lying bastards. No one used her. No one.
    They would pay.
    No one would talk of a plan on the shuttle to Earth orbit. Their reluctance had finally disgusted her. She'd spent the two-hour layover on Sunrise Station apart from them all. In that time, she came to realize that perhaps they were prudent not to discuss things in such an open place. She would speak to them again of plans to make plans on the shuttle to Earth.
    Except for Marc and Nick, she amended. The shuttle to the United States had left shortly after they arrived, and the two men with it. Nick she would find a way to contact later. Marc was useless to her.
    And good riddance to him, anyway! He refused to help when they needed him. Maria and Nigel refused, too, but their reluctance was born of wariness. Marc was simply against them. She'd seen it in his eyes when Clarion had shown up the night before. In his voice. If he wasn't fucking her, he wanted to. Spineless. He was as bad as Clarion. Worse. He'd betrayed them.
    The boarding light was off above the gateway. She was early, and none of the others had arrived yet. She was scowling out the window at the crescent of the Moon, planning, when the man spoke up from behind her.
    "Ms. Litzenburg? There's been a problem. Will you please come with me?"
    She turned.

Chapter 11
    A banshee win d tears through darkness and hurls rain against the stone fort like a consciousness striving to tear it from its vigil atop the cliffs. The crash of waves rolls up from the sea far below, heard yet unseen but