Jordan Read Online Free PDF Page A

the monitor. “I’m laying in the course.”

The fury of the wise never shows.
    —H IGH P RIESTESS OF A VALON
3

    V ivianne watched Jordan lay in the course, but… not… for Earth.
    The lying son of a bitch!
    No way could this man be the same boy she’d dreamed about when she’d blacked out.
    The Jordan in her dream had been leaner, lankier, and sweeter.
    Adrenaline pumping, Jordan dived into the pool. He’d trained hard all season for this race. The winner attended an elite summer
     camp and received expert coaching and offers to prestigious schools. And Jordan, in the best shape of his career, was determined
     to win.
    K’dark, a good friend in the lane beside him, popped up half a body length behind.
    Jordan breathed evenly, kicking strongly, letting his warmed up muscles carry him through the water. His stroke seemed effortless,
     the long hours in the pool giving him an edge in stamina.
    K’dark had trained hard, too. The two friends pushing one another.
    Jordan turned his head to breathe and saw K’dark’s father on the pool deck cheering for his son. It was a first. The first
     time he’d ever seen him swim. His father worked long hours, double shifts, to support the family.
    Jordan checked to his right, his left, flipped at the wall and headed back. He and K’dark were leading the race.
    It would come down to the two of them.
    He breathed again, glimpsed K’dark’s father jumping up and down. Winning meant a lot to Jordan, but winning this race might
     be K’dark’s future. Without a scholarship, his family couldn’t afford to send him to the university.
    Jordan already had an academic scholarship. He eased up. Slowed his pace.
    K’dark pulled ahead.
    Vivianne’s mind had played tricks on her. The real adult Jordan couldn’t have been that selfless kid. Because the adult Jordan
     was deceptive. Dangerous.
    Vivianne had to stop herself from lunging toward the controls. Instead she kept her face expressionless and strolled casually
     toward him. She knew the
Draco’
s specs as well as the layout of her beach penthouse. That meant she could disengage the nav system and turn the ship into
     orbit as easily as she could change the channel on her TV—if only she could get close enough to the controls.
    Pulse racing, she made herself sound breezy. “Shouldn’t we be turning by now?”
    “Missile launch in thirty seconds,” the North American States warned.
    Vivianne’s pulse sped up. Jordan stood at the control center, a study of calm.
    Gray leaned over his monitor. “One minute until hypertransporter is fully powered.”
    “Missile launch in twenty seconds.”
    Still too far away to reach the controls, Vivianne stared at the monitor and ran equations in her head. “They’re not bluffing.
     They’ll fire unless you comply.”
    “I know.” Jordan’s tone was cool. “But after they launch those weapons, it’ll take fifty-three seconds for the missiles to
     reach us. By then, we’ll be gone.”
    “Ten seconds.”
    He was risking their lives for no good reason that she could discern. “Stand down, Jordan. We aren’t provisioned. We don’t
     have enough food, water, oxygen, or—”
    “Five seconds.”
    Expression determined, he hovered over the transporter control.
    “Two seconds.”
    Praying he wouldn’t suspect she was up to anything, Vivianne edged closer, her nerves raw. Another step. Then one more. Taking
     all her resentment and fear, converting it into raw force, she lunged and slammed into Jordan, knocking him sideways.
    She was fast, but Jordan was faster.
    Even as she crashed into his rock-hard body, his fingers began the transporter sequence. And the
Draco
jumped from sub–light speed and normal space… into hyperspace and faster-than-light travel.
    Earth vanished from view. Stars streaked by the viewport.
    Damn him to hell.
    He’d just shot them into a place where space folded in on itself, a wormhole. Over the years Vivianne had heard many explanations
     of wormhole