Final Assault Read Online Free PDF Page B

wandered over to the major coffee-making equipment and was surveying it. When she had her choice, he knew she always made a cappuccino.
    Yolanda Hayes ran her fingers across the glass table just like Cross had done. Then she sat in a chair on the left center, and squeaked, looking down at her seat.
    “This chair just grabbed me!” she said.
    “They’re made to do that,” Cross said. “Very expensive. You’re supposed to be more comfortable now.”
    “I don’t know.” Hayes’s dark skin had flushed rose. “I’m thinking that I may sue this chair for sexual harassment.”
    “Enjoy it” Killius said as she walked to the pastry table. “These days, we’re all so busy we should take what we can get.”
    Shane let out a bark of a laugh and then clamped his mouth closed, as if his own reaction had startled him. He took the chair across from Hayes and grinned at her. “I’m with Jesse on this one.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m rethinking,” Hayes said. “This chair may be fresh, but it only has one move.”
    “That you know of,” Britt said as the cappuccino maker made a whooshing noise.
    Cross’s hand hovered over the cookies. It seemed indelicate somehow to be looking at fresh-baked pastries and elaborate chairs as the world was falling apart around them. The thought, instead of dampening his interest in the food, seemed to heighten it. Survival reaction, he told himself, and grabbed a chocolate chip cookie to go with his coffee and muffin.
    He put his food down beside Hayes, leaving the chair closest to the head of the table for Britt. His chair shifted beneath him, and then provided padding where he needed it, lengthened to fit his legs, and put a support against his back.
    Even though he was prepared for it, the experience was still a bit disconcerting.
    Bradshaw sat down on the other side of Shane. He had only poured himself a glass of water. He seemed more nervous than usual.
    Bradshaw wasn’t an official member of the Tenth Planet Project, although he had attended meetings before. He was here this time because he had done a lot more of the basic research into the aliens than Cross had. Also, since the announcement of the alien ships, Cross wanted company whenever he got in his car. Bradshaw probably wouldn’t leap to anyone’s rescue— he was too smart to get involved in brawls—but he would contact emergency services fast.
    As if they would be able to respond in this mess.
    The elevator doors opened again and Portia Groopman stood beside the security guard. Portia was wearing a dress for the first time since Cross had met her, and her hair was combed away from her face. She had put lipstick on, but had chewed through the layer on her lower lip. In her right hand, she clutched one of her stuffed dogs.
    If he hadn’t known she was one of the most talented nanotechnology researchers in the world, he would have thought she was someone’s daughter who had gotten lost in the building. She was only nineteen and had been homeless many of those years. As a result, she was even quirkier than most scientists he had met.
    “I didn’t know you were coming, Portia,” Cross said, glancing at Bradshaw. He hadn’t moved either. “I could have given you a ride.”
    “I wish you had,” Portia said. “I didn’t know the streets were so bad. I had to keep hitting reset on my car’s navigator”
    “I thought I’d tell them about the research,” Bradshaw said.
    “That was the plan,” Portia said. “Then I got to thinking about it. I want everyone to understand exactly what we’re doing. Can I explain it now?”
    She hadn’t even gotten off the elevator. The security guard looked nervously around the room.
    “Not everyone’s here yet,” Britt said. “Come on in and have some pastries.”
    “Pastries?” Portia stepped off the elevator. The security guard looked relieved as the doors closed and took her away from the meeting. “You guys are gorging while people are looting grocery stores?”
    Shane