Free Reborn (The Cartographer Book 2) by Craig Gaydas Page A

asked incredulously. “I still have work to do if you expect more prototypes.”
    “I need you to go with them Sam,” Corvus whispered. “I need someone with them I can trust.”
    Sam wasn't pleased by the news. “You don't trust these guys? I thought they were our allies.”
    “They are, but they don't know what you and I know.” Corvus grabbed his elbow and held him close, lowering his voice even more. “They cannot make the decisions that will be necessary soon.”
    “Because they don't know what we know,” Sam repeated.
    “Exactly.”
    “What about Claw?” Sam looked concerned.
    “I will keep him here with me, along with a few soldiers to guard the Richat Structure.”
    Sam approached Calypso. “Guess I am tagging along for the ride.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “We don't need a chaperone, Corvus.”
    “I am not sending him as a chaperone,” Corvus explained. “I'm sending him as insurance.”
    “Whatever,” Calypso muttered before leading Sam to the shuttle.
    Corvus watched the shuttle rise into the sky and disappear among the glare of the bright desert sun. He looked at Claw who seemed to study him with cold, calculating precision. “You will come in quite handy, Claw,” he whispered to the wolf. Corvus was well aware of Sam's talents. His weapons would prove useful in the battles ahead.
    Quite handy indeed.

Kedge
    “Can you hear me, Nathan?” Satou slapped the side of the headset. “Damn it!”
    Kedge watched while he fumbled with the headset. Lianne had explained to him that the Explorer's League technology grew more antiquated every day despite the Consortium funding the League since its inception. Financing for new technology had been reduced drastically over the years. Calypso repeatedly complained about it, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. The refurbished equipment neared the end of its life cycle, but the crew had to make do with what they had.
    “Bureaucratic shenanigans,” Kedge grumbled. “You would think your High Prince would care more about the group that brings new worlds into their ranks.”
    Lianne took her headset off and frowned. “What do you know about caring? Have you ever cared about anything in all your years of leading the Lumagom against us, slaughtering millions of innocents?”
    His jaw tightened. Her words stung with truth. It seemed no matter what he did he would never be able to wash his hands of the past. No matter what he intended to correct a lot of the wrongs of his predecessor.
    “I have cared, woman , more than you know,” he spat the word through clenched teeth.
    “Stop it, both of you.” Satou banged the headset against his thigh and reattached it to his head. “Nathan, are you there? Can you hear me?”
    Lianne focused her attention on Satou, which turned out to be a good thing. Kedge felt a familiar pain radiating from his chest. It was like a dagger poking at his lungs. It radiated outward and gradually got worse. He had to resist the urge to reach for his chest. Not now damn it . With a grimace he bit back the pain.
    “ Yes ,” replied Nathan. “ Sorry about that, but I had a hard time trying to figure out how to use the shuttle's communication system .”
    Kedge folded his arms across the chest, hiding the pain. Lianne turned and bored a hole into his soul with her eyes. Kedge feigned a smile. He knew she didn't like him but he didn't care. He didn't trust them. Any one of them could turn out to be a traitor, just like Calypso.
    “We are about to enter the building, we will alert you if we see anything out of the ordinary.” Satou cut the transmission and grabbed his scanner. After punching a few buttons, he stared grimly at the miniature screen.
    “What's wrong?” Lianne asked.
    “Nothing at the moment. It appears there are about fifteen people inside the building.”
    “That seems like a low number,” Kedge admitted. “That's good.”
    Satou nodded and fastened the scanner to his belt. After double checking the canister, he made