Death World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

contact, but I refused as I found him unsavory.”
    My mom cleared her throat and nodded. “I see. Well…we’ll have to drive you, then. When is the ceremony, James?”
    “Uh…Thursday, I think.”
    As it was already Tuesday, my mom raised her eyebrows. “All right…you’ll have to stay with us until then, Della. I have a guest bed all made up on the second floor. We hardly ever get any visitors who stay with us in the main house.”
    “No thank you,” Della said. “I prefer to stay with James on his couch.”
    My parents fell silent for a second. Their eyes flicked back and forth between us. They knew I entertained various women in my shack from time to time, but this was different.
    I expected my mother to frown disapprovingly, but she didn’t. She smiled instead. “That’s just fine,” she said.
    It took me a second to get it. Mom wanted me to sleep with Della. That felt strange on the face of it. Maybe she was already having some kind of fantasy that the two of us would get married. I could have told her the odds of that happening were slim indeed, baby or no. Hell, the woman had almost killed me in my sleep just last night.
    The next few days were pretty nice, from my point of view. I had a girl sharing my room and my bed, and my parents were treating us like royalty. This was an unprecedented situation.
    My folks didn’t ask any probing questions, they never mentioned Anne, nor did Mom give Della a single disapproving stare. They tried to make things pleasant and comfortable for both of us and insisted we take our meals in the main house. The four of us spent a lot of time together.
    All that said, Thursday could hardly come fast enough for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents. But despite the fact I look to be about twenty-two years old, I’m really pushing thirty, and I’d gotten used to having my own space.
    On the day of the big parade, we rode up to Atlanta and gathered our equipment at the chapter house. The old tram could barely carry our rucks with all four of us in the cabin, but we made it to the spaceport and left my folks at the gate. They moved off to join the audience that ringed the spaceport fence.
    Carlos was there, rolling up on his foldable alien-made unicycle. He’d bought it back before Hegemony had started confiscating Galactic credits and sweeping all our legion accounts of hard currency.
    What surprised me wasn’t the vehicle itself. It was the fact that he had a passenger riding with him. I recognized her, and I noticed she hugged onto him like she meant business.
    “Kivi?” I called out in surprise.
    Carlos steered our way and nearly ran us down. He only had partial control of his bike, being an alien contraption that wasn’t entirely meant for a single human to ride, much less two.
    After half-crashing to a stop, Kivi climbed off and slapped him lightly.
    “You didn’t tell me this thing would give me a butt-ache,” she complained.
    “Let me kiss it better,” Carlos suggested.
    They chased each other around for a moment while Della and I shook our heads.
    When they’d at last settled down and come close, Kivi looked Della up and down. “Oh. You’re not Anne, are you?” she asked, as if that thought had just occurred to her.
    My gut felt that jab of hers. Kivi had always been moody, and this afternoon was no exception. If I had to put a name to it, I’d say Kivi’s mood was “catty” today.
    I glanced at Della, hoping that Kivi’s jab hadn’t landed. Unfortunately, Della seemed to have gotten the reference. She was frowning.
    “I’m Della, a specialist, and your superior,” she said.
    Kivi smiled and lifted a finger. “Not anymore. I’m a specialist now, too. A tech.”
    “And I’m a bio in training,” Carlos said. “Anybody want to turn their heads and cough?”
    I clapped my hands together, making a booming sound. They all looked at me. As long as the girls were pulling rank, I figured I might as well pull mine. I was a legion veteran, and