Free DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3) by Niall Teasdale

feel the soft vibrations throbbing in her muscles. ‘How’s that?’
    ‘That’s… uh… I think I could come in this after a few minutes.’
    Fox lifted herself and slid across the tub to settle between Marie’s thighs, hands sliding up the limbs and spreading them further. ‘I think that that’s too long and want to hear you screaming sooner.’ Fox’s fingers found their target and started circling, like sharks.
    ‘I can get behind that,’ Marie said. Apparently the prey was not too worried about being eaten.
    Airborne over the Southern Protectorate, 19 th June.
    They could have made the trip a lot faster if they had decided to take another pilot with them. Since they were determined not to, they were being good, and though everyone got a chance at flying the jet, it was Fox who was to handle the take-off and landing, and they were keeping the speed subsonic. At its top speed, the personal jet could have covered the 2,200-kilometre distance to Dallas in under an hour, but as it was, it took more than two.
    And it was not the most exciting of views for a lot of the trip. They crossed into the Southern Protectorate just south of Lexington in what had been Kentucky. Visible habitation had been thinning for a while, but it tailed off faster as they arced south-west, passing to the north of the ruins of Nashville. Here, the depopulation was primarily due to the unpredictability of the weather. Tornados had all but obliterated Nashville while further south there were tornados and violent storms which came up out of the Gulf of Mexico. Florida was depopulated because much of it was under water.
    By the time they were passing Memphis and heading into what had been Arkansas, the effects of water were more obvious, both the lack and the excess. Here the topsoil had been eroded by flash floods and periods of extended drought. The land below them was bleak, a dirty yellow-brown that seemed to have coated the whole landscape in silt.
    ‘Do you think they’ll ever get this land back?’ Fox asked as the navigation system said they were entering Texas airspace. Jackson had been running things, but they were approaching their destination and it was time for Fox to take over.
    ‘Yes,’ Jackson replied. ‘We’re seeing some favourable results in Africa now. I don’t expect to be alive when it happens though.’
    ‘Cheery thought.’ Fox slipped into the second seat in the cockpit and took over the controls. ‘Head back and keep Terri company. You can launch the two guard frames when we’re down.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am,’ Jackson replied, smirking as he pulled his gangly legs out of the foot well. ‘I’ll have them airborne as soon as possible.’
    ‘Just remember, no one even opens a door until we’re sure it’s clear. Some of the gangs out here would just love to get their hands on us and this jet.’
    ‘We’re both aware of the danger, Fox. Don’t worry.’
    Fox was worried. She would have preferred a military aircraft, more weapons, or not being there, but she realised that it was all, primarily, about not especially wanting to see the place again and she had decided that maybe Terri had something. Maybe coming back and settling some ghosts would be a good thing. Checking the flight plan, she started the descent toward what was left of MarTech Dallas.
    ~~~
    ‘I’m getting nothing larger than a cat out there,’ Jackson said as Fox made her way back into the passenger cabin from the cockpit. ‘Nothing on radar or infrared.’
    Fox nodded, picking up an assault rifle which Terri had put out ready for her. ‘Put the frames on an orbital perimeter search.’ She began checking the rifle, popping the magazine to visually check the load.
    ‘I did check that thing out when I took it out of the rack,’ Terri said, her lips twitching.
    ‘Yeah, well, ever since this place, I like to do a check over any weapon I have to use which doesn’t spend all its time with me. It’s mildly paranoid, but after all the jams we