Hammer and Crucible by Cameron Cooper (easy books to read txt) 📗

walking swiftly along the curved wall. If I kept following it, I would move out of their sight. Then I could put the crate down and go looking for a way down to the lower levels—or up to the cable car pier. Something…although my options were severely limited right now.

“We look stupid carrying these,” Juliyana muttered.

I agreed.

“Hey! There she is! Andela! Juliyana Andela! Halt!”

“Fuck, they don’t even realize it’s me,” I bitched.

“They’re going to know in a second,” Juliyana said.

We kept walking.

“Andela! I said halt!” one of the Rangers bellowed. Around us, the few people lingering on this level of the station were whispering, wondering what was happening.

“There’s only four of them,” Juliyana said.

A shriver bolt singed the floor between us and my heart gave another dance of fright and concern. They had opened fire among civilians pretty damn quick. They weren’t even sure it was us, damn it!

“Four of them, two of us. Through them, then?” I said.

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

Going through them would ensure they didn’t get up again for a while. That would give us time.

“On my count,” I said. “One, two…three.”

I put the crate down thankfully, spun, and sprinted back toward the four Rangers, who were also breaking into a run after us.

I saw their eyes open as they realized we were bringing the fight to them. I didn’t fool myself, though. These were combat-trained cadre. We had to surprise them if we were going to put them down. “Temporary stopper only!” I yelled at Juliyana and leapt at the first of them as he came within reaching distance.

It was a short fight, and brutal. It had to be. Killing them outright would have been easier and quicker, but I wanted them still breathing when we were done. That required sleeper holds and numbing strikes…and moving fast to maintain our surprise factor, which didn’t give us much of a margin, but it would have to do.

My first dropped to the ground with a sigh. The second was reaching for me, which made it easier. I slid under his arm, came up behind him and rammed my pointed knuckle into the nerve junction under his ear.

His arm dropped, numb.

Another strike to the side of his knee and his leg bent, unable to hold him up. He staggered, tried to thrust out the leg that wasn’t working and fell over.

Juliyana stood breathing hard over her two, who were moaning and rolling on the ground. Then she looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened.

I spun around.

There was an open area by the wall which hid the cable car shaft, filled with tables and chairs. Bar on one side. Café on the other .

Nearly every chair was filled with Rangers, who were now leaping to their feet and reaching for their shrivers.

“Fuck,” I breathed.

A whistle sounded, so piercing it made me wince. I spared a glance to the right.

A man stood farther down the concourse, waving toward me. Civilian clothing. Long utility coat. A mass of unruly brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Square chin.

“Move it!” I yelled at Juliyana and sprinted in his direction. He waved us on, his arm movements picking up speed.

We sprinted, ducking between and around civilians, who were doing their best to get out of the way and not moving nearly fast enough. Their sluggishness preserved our asses. The Rangers wouldn’t shoot at us if there was a chance they could hit civilians.

The man stood where I judged the starboard landing bay doors were—the landing bay with the rusted-up hulk with the clean lines and rail guns.

He moved toward the doors and we drew closer. I don’t think I had got around to taking a breath since I had broken into a sprint. There wasn’t time.

He pulled open the man-sized door and held it open as we got there. I skidded on the floor—moving too fast—then pushed off with my hand and dived through the door, my heart screaming.

As I dived, a shriver bolt tore through the air over my head and sizzled against the interior of the air lock.

The man bolted the door and pressed his hand against it. “That won’t hold them long,” he said. “Move it.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Juliyana demanded.

“Later,” I told her. “Quickly. Onto the ship.”

We followed him over to the other side of the airlock and onto the flimsy tunnel leading into the guts of the rust-bucket.

Thudding on the outer lock door. Yelling, barely heard.

I didn’t fool myself. They were Rangers. One of them even now would be screaming at the station’s traffic controller, demanding they open the bay door remotely.

We thudded across the tunnel and into the dark interior of the ship. As soon as we all hit solid flooring, he yelled, “Shut the doors! Get us out of here! Maximum speed!”

“Aye, captain,” came a disembodied voice—a man’s tenor, with a snap in it that said he was hurrying.

The door of the ship slammed closed behind us and the seals hissed.

“I’ll have to break the connection to the station,” the pilot added.

“Do it,” he told her. “Do whatever it takes. Just get us to the gate and into a hole, before they get that carrier of theirs unhooked and coming after us.”

“I can outfly that carrier,” the pilot said, sounding amused.

“I believe him,” the man added. “He’s cocky, but he knows his stuff.”

Even as he spoke, the rumble of engines shivered the floor beneath our feet.

There was the softest of jolts as the ship moved.

I was impressed. From cold to moving in…what? Ten seconds? That was impressive. Maybe the pilot, whoever he was, had kept the engines in trickle-over state, ready to go, just in case.

Our savior leaned against the wall with one hand and let out a deep breath. He raised a brow at me. “Hello, Danny.”

“Hello, Gabriel,” I replied.

“Gabriel Dalton?” Juliyana said, her hand flashing to her bare hip. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

11

“Later,” Dalton told Juliyana gruffly. He turned and ran along the corridor we were