Spears of the Sun (Star Sojourner Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

group.
    “They're not the first ones, Joe.”
    “C'mon.” He put away his call unit and holstered his stingler. “Let's go.”
    “I'll pay for it,” I said.
    He nodded. “Next one's on me.”
    I punched my cred code into the unit and followed him toward the front door.
    The waitress came out from the kitchen and hurried toward us. “Was everything OK?” She smiled shyly at me.
    “Uh, yeah,” I said, “but the asparagus were only half – “
    The front door slammed open and the skinny hawk-nosed tag tossed in a small black cylinder that rattled and hissed as it rolled toward my feet, spewing smoke in circles. The tag closed the glass door and leaned against it to hold it shut.
    Joe took out his stingler and aimed at him, but I coughed and fell against Joe as I moved away from the smoke.
    “Tony!” the waitress screamed.
    “Go!” Joe said and pushed me toward the back room.
    I grabbed the waitress' arm and pulled her along as I ran. Joe followed, but he kept his eyes on the front door, though the tag was gone.
    Tony, a short, dark man with a mustache and beard, still held a dishtowel as he ran out from the kitchen. “What's wrong, Gloria?” He stared at the cylinder. “What the hell is that?”
    Smoke filled the room.
    Gloria swayed and crumbled to her knees.
    My vision blurred from whatever was in the acrid haze as I dragged her to her feet and we stumbled into the kitchen. Tony followed. Joe watched our backs as he made his way into the kitchen.
    Another cylinder spewed smoke as it rolled through the open pantry door.
    Someone outside slammed the door shut.
    “Stay away from the door!” Joe warned, “And the window. They're waiting for us to come out.”
    Tony kicked aside a chair and yanked open a trap door. “Here!”
    The room was doing a slow spin and my knees were shaky as I helped Gloria through the opening. She fell onto the dirt floor below. “Get in, Joe.” I helped him down and followed, then I fell too as my knees gave out.
    Tony jumped down, closed the trap door and latched it. “Come on, Gloria!” He pulled her to her feet. “This way,” he whispered to me as they headed down a narrow, dirt tunnel lit only by small glow balls hung from the ceiling.
    Footsteps overhead.
    “Where the hell did they go?” a muffled voice called.
    I drew in deep breaths that held the smell of damp earth and rotted tree roots as I got to my feet, and kept an open palm braced against the crumbly dirt wall as I stepped over strewn fibrin boards. My head began to clear.
    Joe kept watch behind our path with his weapon in hand.
    “Where does this tunnel lead?” I whispered.
    “It branches,” Tony said quietly. “We're going left, to a safe house.”
    “Is this a RECOIL tunnel?” I asked.
    “They dug it out during the days of the czar,” Gloria said, still out of breath as we moved along uneven ground.
    “What does the right branch lead to?” I asked.
    “A cavern,” Tony answered.
    “Will you tags stop talking!” Joe whispered. “Your voices carry.”
    Something small and green and fat skittered across our path on long legs.
    Gloria screamed.
    “Dammit!” Joe whispered as the sound of footsteps overhead stopped.
    “Did you hear that?” a muffled voice above us called.
    Gloria put her hand over her mouth.
    “Hurry up!” Tony waved us on.
    We sloshed through puddles where silver liquid dripped from the walls.
    Silver. Spirit's blood!
    I paused.
Spirit, we need your help
.
    I know.
    It's not my fault this time!
    Have you forgotten that if I loose my power, it will destroy all Terrans on my world?
    Can't you –
    “Jules!” Joe whispered as the trap door was laser-burned “Why in God's name are you stopping?”
    “It's Spirit!” I told him.
Spirit?
I sent.
Can't you narrow your power to affect just the three tags?
    The three what?
    Sentient beings. The cruds chasing us!
    Only you can achieve that with your ability. Your time is running out, Terran. The cruds, as you call them, have