DusktoDust_Final3 Read Online Free PDF

kilometers below, riding on the Skylift was not as simple as riding on an elevator. Alana and David sat in the seats of the turbolift car, hurtling down towards the planet. As a passenger you couldn ’ t tell how fast you were going- there were no windows on the car- the total trip was said to take about twenty minutes.
    There were other passengers in the car, which had seating for well over one hundred, but Alana and David had managed to grab the seats under the only surveillance camera, which was pointed at the far end of the car.
    David waited until the car had stopped accelerating and then pulled out a small cylindrical device. It was a sonic whistler and would prevent the camera microphones from recording their conversation. He switched it on and gave Alana a thumbs up.
    She kept her voice low. There were still other passengers around but they were not close enough to hear their whispering. “ So what was that about? Why did they stop us? ”
    “ They had a photo of me. ”
    Alana ’ s face creased with concern. “ Are you sure? From where? ”
    “ It was definitely me. I remember where it was taken. It was on that run we did a couple of months ago for Tyrus. The night before we made our run I stopped for a drink in a bar. I guess UNEC has upped the number of cameras in the corporate sectors. ”
    “ Do they know who we are? ”
    David shook his head. “ No. They just know that they have a picture of an illegal on Prospect, and that the picture matches me. ”
    Alana thought about this for a second. “ Wait, if they know it was you why did they let us go? ”
    “ The picture wasn ’ t great, but I ’ ve thought about that too. ” He paused. “ If the PKs wanted to hold us, they would have done so. Proof or no proof. ”
    Alana nodded. “ So that means they wanted us to leave. ”
    “ And that means they are following us. ” David saw that she was already scanning faces in the car for anyone who looked suspicious. He put his hand on her arm. “ Don ’ t worry. They won ’ t be on the lift. They ’ ll try and put a tail on us once we reach Base. ”
    “ Okay, then what ’ s the plan? ”
    David paused for a second to weigh the options. “ I don ’ t think there ’ s any question that they ’ ve tagged us for smugglers. Trying to convince them otherwise- convince them that we are the Dominguez ’ s- will take time. Time that we don ’ t have. The only option is to shake the tails, get to Windcorp, and get the hell off this rock with our cargo. ” While it was a difficult plan to execute it looked like the only feasible option. Their contact with Windcorp was fifteen hundred miles away. They had to meet him in two days. That was a lot of ground to cover, and it was through some of the worst parts of the Dusk Zone.
    Alana was thinking through the route they would take. “ Where will we lose him? ”
    David smiled. “ We ’ ll go through the Skull Pit. I don ’ t think anyone could follow us through there. ”
     
    When the car reached the ground Alana and David hustled off. They moved quickly through the Base Station, leaving UNEC and the Peacekeepers behind them. It was time to get to somewhere a little less regulated and a little more familiar.
    They exited the Base and found themselves outside in Mandell Square, named for the captain of the UNV Brasilia . This was corporate territory, no longer under the direct jurisdiction of UNEC. The square was the center of what could be considered the capital of Prospect, Mandell City. But there was no central government, no governing body. There was just industry.
    Mandell City was a series of industrial centers and residential zones all owned by multinationals. It was by far the most upscale region on the planet, and one of the few areas on the planet that hadn ’ t been scarred by the Colonial War some fiftyyears ago. Back then Mandell City had been a colony of the Arab Union so Middle Eastern architecture was still prevalent. But despite the city