Enemy Lines Read Online Free PDF Page A

people Connor. Your defection and intel could tilt the entire war in our favor. Might even put an end to the fighting. But you see…" Lawton leaned in close to Connor's ear. "I'm not fooled. I know you're the devil." She pulled back and put her pointer finger to her lips and breathed, "Shh."
    The rest of the day was full: they sparred hand to hand with other soldiers, practiced at the shooting range, and ran simulated ops with laser tag guns.
    After dinner at the chow hall and showers they were both physically and emotionally exhausted. The morning would usher in day three and both wondered what the outcome would be.

Chapter 5
    Day 3
    They stopped at Smithy's Bot Shop - or Tech Central - and checked out a bot.
    "What is that thing?"
    "Artificial intelligence - it goes ahead of the soldiers through the debris and scans for explosives. There is still crap on the outside from the last asshole who took power."
    "I thought we couldn't go outside,"
    "Yeah, well some of us have to patrol, thus the camouflage and the bot," Lawton was sarcastic.
    "This is what Kain and the Sovereignty’s legacy leaves behind, Connor - ruin and desolation."
    They ran through concrete dust that swirled in the sun's rays. Their boots crushed the remnants of a once vibrant and powerful civilization. Both of them were angry and pushed the other one to run faster.
    With no warning, Lawton stopped fast and grabbed Connor by the shoulders of his shirt, smashed down on his instep with her boot and threw him to the ground. Connor hadn't expected the assault. He came down hard on the concrete and asphalt.
    "What the hell was that?" Connor's voice raised in adrenaline and surprise.
    "WHAT KIND OF MAN ARE YOU, CONNOR?" Lawton yelled at the top of her lungs. Rachel couldn't take one more moment of pretend. "ANSWER THE QUESTION! WE HAVE THREE DAYS! I don't have time to beat around the bush with you … GOD DAMN IT!"
    "I DON'T KNOW!" Connor shouted back from on the ground.
    "HOW CAN'T YOU FUCKING KNOW?"
    "DO YOU THINK I HAVE CHOICES, LAWTON? I've got no fucking choices!" Connor spat, stood back up and turned away from her.
    "Everybody has choices!"
    "I don't! I never have!" He stared over the broken world.
    Realization spread over her like cold ghostly fingers clawing at her senses. "Who do they have?"
    Connor stayed silent.
    "Your parents?"
    "My father was killed revolting. He had tried to stop the soldiers from separating our family. Sovereignty Defenders killed them in front of us to show their power. The Sovereignty is thicker than blood, to be obeyed before parents, and to be loved above all else." Connor recited the Sovereignty philosophy. "My mom is gone now, too. "If I don't carry through with this assignment… I have a sister. She's nine years old."
    Lawton was an orphan. She had lost both her parents to a battle when she was very young. She had no siblings. No real reference for loving someone. She knew she loved people, but she had never loved any one intimately. She wondered what you might be willing to go through and to sacrifice for someone that you intimately loved.
    "We have to finish the patrol and circle back now."
    Connor nodded.
    The bot had just hovered there next to them the entire time. Waiting until they started jogging again. They were silent for quite sometime when Lawton finally asked, "Have you ever seen the ocean?"
    "No Lawton, I've never seen the ocean." He felt angry and conflicted and he certainly didn't want to have any more conversations.
    "I've seen old pictures in books… and Old New York harbor, but that's not the same," Lawton wrinkled her nose at the thought. "I have heard it is so immense you can't see to the other side - it stretches all the way to a far off continent. I want to sail across it, like people used to before the wars… maybe the rest of the world doesn't look so bad."
    "Maybe it does," Connor added.
    "Then we fix it." Lawton spoke determinedly.
    Connor stopped in his tracks. Breathing heavily he stared at