Escape Read Online Free PDF Page B

“You could always get a loan from the company.”
    “With what collateral? I don't own a keficking thing!”
    Dennis looked up from his paperwork, his expression mildly amused. “Watch your language, Kieran. You don't want to earn a fine for running your mouth off, do you? Company policy, remember?”
    Kieran's cheeks bulged: “Kefick kefick kefick!”
    Dennis shook his head sadly, his short, curly brown hair bouncing with the movement. “I'm going to have to report that.” His head dipped to make a note on one of the papers on his desk.
    Kieran spun on his heel and angrily slapped his palm on the door sensor. The gray steel door slid hastily aside, and Kieran stomped out and down the corridor before he could cost himself any more money.
     
    * * *
     
    “I'm so sorry, Kieran, but at least you know your claim is still out there waiting for you. What are the chances that somebody else could discover it before you have a chance to go back?”
    Kieran ran his hands through his short, sandy-blond hair, and sent Jilly a tired, despondent smile. He was sitting beside her on the couch in his boxy living room. A therapeutic glass of cheap Callinan Wine sat in front of him making a ring of condensation on his synth-wood perk table. Jilly had wisely eschewed his offer to pour her a glass of the rosy indiscretion.
    “With my luck?” He shook his head. “Someone probably saw me heading out on the IF-57 and followed me, or maybe I've got a tracking device on the flitter. Cardian has been threatening to plant one ever since he accused me of jumping his claim last year.”
    Jilly Claassen shook her head, her long, blond hair swinging from side to side. She crossed her long, silky legs toward him. Kieran tried not to read anything into that.
    “You're being paranoid. And even if Cardian planted a tracking device, how would he know that what you found out there is even worth the toll to get there?” Jilly blinked her big blue eyes at him, her long, black lashes fluttering enticingly.
    Kieran reached for his wine and watched Jilly's expression dimple into a smug grin. She was his best friend, neighbor, and sometimes love interest. Unfortunately, she was only ever interested in being more than friends when she was drunk and miserable. Not exactly the basis for meaningful relationship. Her latest lapse of judgment with him had happened a couple of weeks ago, following a messy breakup with a Sentinel. Kieran's appeal to her had lasted approximately 24 hours, just long enough for her to get sober enough to realize her mistake. This time, after she'd given him the usual excuses — I'm confused, I need some time to think, it's not you, it's me; I'm sorry — he had told her he'd rather just be friends, that they should stop confusing their friendship for something else — like it was his idea. What else could he do? They had a great mental connection, but the chemistry just wasn't there. Even he had noticed — kissing her was like kissing the sister he'd never had. But don't they say that about friends who fall for each other?
    And as much as it was like kissing his hypothetical sister, it was also like kissing the first and last woman in the universe. Those lips, greedily pressed to his, her tongue twining round his   .   .   . it was like walking through fire and somehow not getting burned by the flames.
    Then again   .   .   .
    Kieran grimaced, as he gazed into Jilly's sympathetic face. Those blue eyes were burning into his, filling his head full of wincing memories, scars so fresh that he could still remember exactly how it had felt when she had torn him open and left him lying in a miserable, drunken stupor, slowly bleeding out of his preciously small supply of optimism and hope.
    Julie was frowning at him now. “It's an uncharted belt, right?
    “Right.”
    “Close to the spacelanes?”
    “Yeah   .   .   . ” Kieran joined her and frowning, seeing where she was going with those questions.
    “Are you sure that you